


More than Once

by katydid3145



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:22:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katydid3145/pseuds/katydid3145
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyday is a new chance to start your story over. Even when your past is grasping at your ankles, trying to pull you back. Set mid-Season 2, inspired by a theory about Whale I saw online relating to the Wizard of Oz</p>
            </blockquote>





	More than Once

Chapter 1

 

"One coffee, no sugar. I don't know how you can drink it like that."

Victor honestly hated the taste of coffee. He had tried to sweeten it with sugar once or twice but he had never really had a taste for sweet things. All he really needed was the caffeine, so he ordered his coffee black and pretended he liked the taste.

"It's not so bad, once you get used to it."

Ruby smirked at him from across the counter. His trips to the diner had become more frequent since his recent...attempted midnight swim. She never brought it up, which he appreciated. She just smiled when he walked through the door, whether it was borne out of pity or politeness he didn't know. He appreciated the effort all the same. It had been a long time since anyone had even pretended to be happy to see him.

"Yea well, I will take my cavities over your black coffee any day. You heading to the hospital?"

"My shift starts in twenty minutes."

"Stop by later, Granny's making some of her famous lasagna. I'll save you a slice."

"I'll try."

He would do more than try. He would be here. They both knew it, she could have said that Granny was making a stew out of rats and he would have been first in line to try some. As long as she asked it. He knew it was nothing more than gratitude on his part, perhaps a bit of hero-worship. She did save his life. It was natural to gravitate towards someone who was so much stronger than you were. Especially in the state he had been in. And she was obligated, as the hero, to make sure the person she saved didn't try to off himself again so soon. It was textbook psychology. He was sure this...companionship between them would eventually fade away.

"Where is everyone?" He was only now realizing that the diner was mostly abandoned. Completely abandoned actually. There should have been at least one or two people getting their morning coffee and donuts right now. Even Granny was missing.

"The town hall. They are having some big meeting, something to do with getting everyone home. Rumpelstiltskin thinks he may have found a way, some untapped source of power that could open a gate or something."

"Oh." It wasn't odd that he wasn't invited to it. He rarely had any say in the coming and goings of the town. He was just there to patch everyone up when whatever plan they were working on inevitably blew up in their faces. Hell he might have been invited to it. He was often oblivious to what people around him were talking about. He had a tendency to zone out of a conversation if he found the topic uninteresting. However...

"Why aren't you at the meeting? Aren't you usually included in things like this?" Ruby had been David's right hand when Mary Margaret and Emma had gone missing. Most of the townspeople looked to her for leadership as much as anyone else.

"Yea well. Granny said she was going to go, so I thought I would stay and leave the diner open in case anyone wanted something to eat."

"That hardly makes sense if everyone was going to the meeting anyway. The diner is empty, you're just wasting your time."

"Some people might not have heard about the meeting. Or were too busy with their work to know it was going on. It doesn't feel like a waste of time."

Victor still thought she was crazy, she had an important voice in this town. It was silly of her to not be included in something so vital just so a few stragglers could have a hot meal. He wanted to argue the point further, but was worried he might offend her. It was her decision, he really had no right to question it.

"Besides, when whatever they are planning blows up spectacularly, they are going to need us to race in and rescue them."

"Us?" He hadn't meant to say it. It was purely out of surprise, a gut reaction. He wasn't opposed to helping out, quite the opposite. But it was still so...new to him, for others to simply assume that he would help. That he was one of the good guys.

"Sure, I mean, they get themselves in all kinds of trouble. Makes sense to have some people sitting on the outside of it." He was still mulling over the 'us' aspect of her words. Clearly she meant it in a friendly, the people in this particular area, sort of way.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. I mean it's not like..." He wasn't even sure why he started that sentence. It was like daring the universe to do something, to come in and smack the normalcy right out of the moment. The loud boom echoed through the town, and rattled the windows of Granny's diner. The lights flickered.

Ruby caught his eye.

"Its taking all your effort not to say 'I told you so' right now, isn't it?"

"You got your medical gear on you Doctor? Cause I think we might need it."

"I'll grab it out of my trunk." He sighed as he placed his coffee back on the counter. Didn't even get to finish it.

They left the diner and headed towards the town hall. He could feel the magic in the air. Could see the wisps of black and purple smoke that were swirling through every molecule of oxygen.

"What is that?"

Victor followed Ruby's line of sight. He stopped. He couldn't move. No.

"Victor? What is it? Are you alright?"

Please no. Not this. Not her.

"I...Ruby I can't..."

A scream pierced the air, forced its way past the magic and noise. Ruby turned to it. She would have to go. She would try to save anyone she could. She would run into the unknown, into an un-winnable fight, she was so much stronger than him. She grabbed his wrist.

"Victor come on, people need our help."

His legs followed her command. He knew he would go with her, knew he would go anywhere she asked him to. He wouldn't let her face this alone. He couldn't let her go into this fight alone, not this time. Not again.

The wind was blowing everywhere. It was like a tornado within the small meeting hall. He saw everyone pushed to the edges of the room. Emma and Mary Margaret, Regina and Rumpelstiltskin, the dwarves and Dr. Hopper. Countless people whose names he knew, whose injuries he had treated over the years. The force of the wind was holding them in place, some pinned several feet off the ground against the wall. Debris swirled around, crashing and cracking, splintering in the air and moving with a force only nature could produce.

And there she was. In the center of it all. Just as beautiful as he remembered her. Just as cruel.

She was laughing the wrong laugh. Not the one that used to make his heart race, that made him want to be more. Be better. This wasn't that laugh, this was the new laugh. The one he had forced her to adopt. After he made her this way, his second monster.

Ruby moved to help David, valiantly trying to protect his family from any harm. Victor grabbed Ruby's arm.

"Don't."

"I can't just do nothing. I have to help them."

"Wait just one moment. Please." It was one thing to forgive a person for being Dr. Frankenstein. To look past the horrors and see the original intent, the good that could have been. But this was different. There was no forgiving him for what he was about to have to confess to. Ruby...Ruby couldn't forgive him for this. He certainly had never forgiven himself for it. He knew what she would think of him. What his actions would cost. But he had always known. Always known that his past would find him, destroy him. God. Why now?

"Victor we have to stop her."

"I know Ruby."

"She is going to kill them."

"I know." She would kill them. She would shatter their bones and scatter them across the town. Then she would forget all about them. Find another town, find more people to kill. She would never stop. He could only assume that Regina or Rumpelstiltskin were behind all this. They were the only ones stupid enough to think they could control power such as hers. The only ones so blind to the danger that they would release her from her cage. The fact that they were both bound to the wall with the rest of them gave him little satisfaction. Maybe he should let her kill them then try to save everybody.

No, they probably wouldn't like that. He was relatively new to this whole hero thing but he was fairly certain they were very much opposed to allowing people to be murdered in front of them.

"If we can get Regina or Gold free then maybe they can help defeat her."

A good idea. But ultimately futile. No power they possessed could match hers. He could only hope that she didn't rip him to pieces the moment she realized he was there. That she would give him a chance to talk to her. To the real her.

"Victor if we don't..."

"Ruby. I...I'm sorry. I'm not. I'm sorry I wasn't as good a man as you make me want to be."

"What? Victor what are you talking about?"

"I just, wanted to say that in case she kills me."

"You know her." It was a simple statement. A fact. But it burned through him, it brought memories to his mind he had buried long ago. Memories he had to keep down, if he had any chance of making it through this with his sanity intact.

"I'll distract her. If I can't talk her down, you can at least start freeing people and sneaking them out the side door." Ruby was going to argue. He had to go now before she talked him out of it. More than likely, it wouldn't have taken more than a simple "don't."

He moved quickly up the aisle. The wind pushed his hair and clothing around. He didn't move his arms up to protect his face or eyes, though he wanted to. He just moved forward, slowly and with a confidence he hoped no one could tell he was faking.

David spotted him first. He looked concerned. Victor was oddly touched.

"Whale! Get out of here!"

She didn't turn. He had no magic, was carrying no weapon. She couldn't possibly perceive him as a threat. And it wasn't like Whale was a name she would be familiar with. He had to do this. Had to face this. To finally accept what he had done. She raised her arms, he heard the crackle in the air. One of her nastier fire spells no doubt.

"That's enough Theodora."

The wind stopped. The crackle of her magic in the air vanished. Silence. She turned slowly. Her eyes focused on him. She didn't speak, just walked towards him. Each step was deliberate, more calculated than she was usually capable of. She wouldn't be hasty when she killed him. He didn't deserve a quick death. He tried not to flinch when she brought a hand up to his face. He wasn't entirely successful.

"It's really you isn't it?"

He had to be quick, had to get through to her.

"I want to speak to Glinda."

She laughed the wrong laugh again. It twisted her face. Pulled it in directions her face never used to move.

"Oh of course you want to speak to her. Of course you do. It's always her isn't it. She's the one you want to talk to. She's the one. Always her. Always her. You only cared about her. Not me. That made you a liar didn't it. After you swore and swore and all it was, was pretty little lies."

"Please. Just for a moment."

"Oh I should shouldn't I? I should. That would teach you wouldn't it? Would hurt you more than the fire ever could. Perhaps I will. Perhaps I will let her sweet voice be in your ears one more time. Maybe you have forgotten what she sounds like. Maybe you want to hear her beg you one more time. Maybe this time you will actually do what she asks. Will you? Will you do it? No...No you won't. Hahahahahaha oh Victor. You are too easy to torture you know that? You ask for it. You live for the pain. I will let you talk to her, one last time. Because I know it won't matter. You will never do what she wants, what she begs me every day to do. And she does. She begs for it. For what she knows I or you or anyone else will ever be able to do. Every day she begs. Does that hurt you Victor? To know what you sent her to, what you willingly let happen?"

"I didn't..."

"LIAR. You knew. You knew and you still did this to us. To her. I should kill these people in front of you Victor. One by one. All the little bodies lined up in a row, ashes beneath my feet. Dust to swirl in the wind and fly away like little birds. Would you like to see that again Victor? How great would that be to see again? Just like old times. But you don't have those fools with you this time, to lock me away. Your cage won't hold, and while I sat in quiet and burned, shadows crept in through the cracks. You haven't been home in a long time Victor. Do you know what's happened? Have you seen the shadows that stalk the children and push away the light? You don't do you? You don't know what's happened since you ran away."

"Theodora. Let me speak to Glinda. Now."

"So serious all the time Victor. No wonder they wanted you to rule. No wonder you ran away."

"I..."

"Victor?" It was her. He could hear it in her voice, the confusion, the innocence. Theodora could never fake Glinda's voice. She could never fake the look in Glinda's eyes. She was never able to trick them into thinking that Glinda had control of their body.

"Glinda?" He didn't know why he questioned it. He knew it was her.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, if Theodora takes control...Are...where are we?" She was putting it all together. The strange place. The people laying on the ground. The magic holding others to the walls. The violence. The pain.

"Oh god, what have I done? Did I hurt..."

"You didn't do anything. It was Theodora." He put his hands on her shoulders. He wanted to comfort her. To hold her. To fix her.

But there was no time. This would be a game to Theodora. She would let Glinda have control for only a few minutes then she would take their shared body back and start burning everything in sight.

"Glinda listen to me, we don't have a lot of time. You have to..."

"Go back into my cage. I know Victor." She put her hand to his face. His head instinctively moved towards it. "You look like you haven't aged a day."

"It's a long story."

"It always is with you." She laughed the right laugh. The one that made his heart ache, that made his chest tighten in agony. "Tell who ever brought me here they need to send me back now. I can feel her trying to take control back."

"That would be me dearie. You see I..."

"Do it now Gold."

A light flashed behind them. Some sort of portal. He could only see her. So much he wanted to say, to make right. She moved away from him. Back into her cage. He would never see her again. He should have been able to think of something to say.

She smiled the right smile. And then she was gone. The people trapped to the walls fell to the ground. He heard other things happening. People helping each other up. He stared at the spot she had been standing in. He could sense them staring at him. Ruby, David, Emma, Mary Margaret. Gold moved to his right side.

"Well, it would seem that it is extremely fortuitous that you have such a sordid romantic past my good doctor. She seemed..."

"You brought her here?"

"Yes, you see I..."

"I'm going to kill you." His voice was quiet. Emotionless. Clinical. "Not right now. But one day. You are going to die, slowly, and in agony, and I want to know that even if I am not there myself, I will be responsible for it. I will be the one who finds the way to kill you. And it will be because of this moment."

He couldn't muster up the energy to care that he had just threatened one of the most powerful wizards in any realm. Or that he had done it in front of every so-called hero in town. So much for attempting to be one of the good guys. Clearly he was not cut out for that sort of thing. Gold was staring at him.

"You won't be able to..."

"You remember the first time we met? You offered me all that gold, all that money. And what did you want in return? My first born child? My obedience? For me to kill someone for you or bring someone back? No. You only wanted me to teach you. To show you the things you couldn't understand. All your knowledge comes from ancient texts and old ways. You knew then the same thing you know now. One day, I would out pace you. One day the things I would be capable of would surpass even your abilities. You knew if anyone could find a way to kill you, it would be me. You knew one day you would be afraid of me. Today, is that day Mr. Gold."

Emma stepped in between them. A pointless action. He wasn't going to try to kill him now. He wasn't ready yet. Soon. But not yet.

"Ok guys, why don't we all just take a few steps back and breathe. No one is going to kill anyone."

"You think I'm afraid of you, you pathetic little..."

"Gold! That is it. Get out now."

Emma was attempting to maintain the peace. Trying to remove the biggest threat from the room. Didn't want Gold to use some sort of magic and start another battle so soon after the last one ended. She didn't realize that Gold wasn't the biggest threat. She had no idea the kinds of things Victor was capable of.

"Your wish is my command dearie."

Victor turned to leave as well. He supposed he should have expected he wouldn't make it very far.

"Whoa, hold on Whale. What the hell was that?" Most of the hall was still filled with people. The whole town would know about what happened here soon. But he would be damned if they knew everything.

"I was just threatening Mr. Gold. I'm sure it can't be that unusual. People probably do it every day. Now if you will excuse me."

"Not with him. Although we should probably really talk about that too. About the green witch who just tried to burn all our faces off. Was that the Wicked Witch of..."

"Don't call her that." He shouldn't have said that, he shouldn't have snapped at the savior. He should have walked quicker to the door. Everyone was staring now. He couldn't see Ruby. He didn't know why he looked for her. She would want nothing to do with him now. Not after she learned the truth. Screw it. Bravery was meant for heroes and he was hardly one of those.

He brushed off Emma's hand and ran for the door. He made it down the street, passed several buildings and just kept going. He had no destination in mind. Just away. He knew he was going to have to explain. Have to tell them everything. Just not now. Not when he could still see her smile and hear her laugh. Still feel her hand on his face.

He was deep into the forest before he stopped to breathe. Ruby would be able to track him here. He had to find a way to mask his scent. Buy him some more time to think, to breathe.

"Not heading for the docks are you?"

Damn it.

"Of course not. If I tried to throw myself off a bridge every time something horrible and soul-crushing happened to me, you would have a full time job."

She didn't look pleased by that. Perhaps it was too soon to joke about his suicide attempt.

"Victor..."

"I'm fine, I just...I just needed to get away so I could breathe for a moment. I swear, I wasn't going anywhere near..."

"I know. I was just worried about you is all."

She wanted to ask him about it, he could see it. Wanted to know who the woman was, how he knew her. But she didn't ask. She was looking at him with concern. He didn't want her to know the truth, didn't want her stop ever looking at him like that.

"I should get to the hospital. See if anyone was seriously injured."

"Ok. I'll walk you there."

They walked in silence. It wasn't awkward, it was comforting. After the docks, they had walked back to the hospital in silence as well. It was beginning to be a bit of a routine for them. He would have an emotional breakdown and run away, she would find him and bring him back. He didn't know what he was going to do if she wasn't there to catch him. Probably keep running til he hit the town line. Til Dr. Frankenstein was just a name from a book that Dr. Whale never read.

There were people scattered throughout the emergency room when they walked in. Mostly superficial wounds, a few stitches, a cast or two. Still it was enough to distract him. He was only mildly aware the Ruby wasn't at his side any more. She must have gone to tell the others that she had brought him back again. He could only imagine what they thought of him. How long would it be until they decided he was too unstable, that they shouldn't trust him with the care of the town. He didn't know if he should be trusted to take care of these people, he couldn't fault them for questioning him. For doubting him.

Somehow between the rush of people coming and going, between setting bones and giving shots, wrapping cuts and checking vitals, he lost track of time. He honestly couldn't say how he came to be sitting in the cafeteria of the hospital nor how long he had been sitting there. His coffee was warm, almost cool. He hoped he remembered to pay for it. Wouldn't do to have people think he was a thief as well. He snorted into his coffee, he was sure they all thought much worse of him. What was a little larceny every now and then, between creating monsters.

Someone sat down across from him. They didn't speak, just sat there. Victor couldn't even muster the energy to look up from his coffee. If it was Gold here to kill him, he hoped he would be quick about it. It might be slightly embarrassing to fall asleep during your own murder.

"You alright?"

It took a few seconds for his sluggish mind to put the voice to a face. A few seconds more to give that face a name. He really needed to get some sleep.

"David."

"You look like you could use some sleep. Why don't I take you home?"

"You're hardly my type, but I will try anything once I suppose." His retort was half-hearted at best. He was trying to be non-nonchalant, to not let them see how affected he was by the events of the past few hours. If Prince Charming was there to carry him home, he doubted he was succeeding.

"Come on, my truck's outside."

"Why?"

"Because that's where I parked it."

"No, I mean...why are you offering me a ride home. Surely you have better things to do. It's not like you and I are friends." They weren't really. A few amiable conversations, an obligatory nod in passing, it was hardly the basis of a strong friendship. Not to mention the whole sleeping with his wife thing.

"Maybe we aren't, but you're one of us and it looks like you've had a rough day so..."

"I have a car. I can drive myself."

"Yea and have you crash into a light pole after falling asleep at the wheel? I don't think so. Come one."

"I have patients I need to check on."

"Everyone has been taken care of. No more excuses we..."

"I don't want to go." He hoped that didn't sound as petulant as it might have come out. He didn't want to go back to his empty apartment. Where his mind would have nothing to do but analyze and extrapolate. To formulate a way he could have saved her, if he had been quicker. How he could have used Gold to save her, or Regina, or any magical object that was hidden in this town. How he could have at least told her he had loved her more than he ever thought was possible. More than he thought he was capable of.

If David asked him to go again, he might be reduced to begging. He really had nothing left anymore, least of all his pride. Good riddance to it really. His pride had caused most of the horrors in his life. His brother, Glinda...

"Ok. But why don't you at least ease up on that mug. Seeing as you're the only doctor in town, we would have to find an amateur to sew you up."

His fingers unclenched from the mug, seemingly at David's command. They ached from how hard he had been grasping at the coffee mug. He supposed he should feel ashamed that this was twice now that David had seen him in the midst of an emotional breakdown. All he felt was tired. Weary.

"Why don't you just get some sleep."

Again his traitorous body followed David's orders. His head moved to rest on his arms on the table in front of him. His eyes closed tightly. He was slightly affronted.

"Don't tell me what to..." He was asleep before he could finish the thought.

Chapter 2

The grass was always the first thing he noticed about any new world. Most people would look to the landscape, the buildings, the way people dressed. But the grass, that was where Victor always got his first impression. There was something very telling about what species flourished throughout a land. The grass here was thinner than in most worlds. Not the like the hearty broad leafed grass he saw in the Enchanted forest, or the thin brittle grass of his own home. The grass here was light, as though a breeze would lift it right out of the ground and set it down gently somewhere else. He had told Jefferson about it when they first arrived. Jefferson had given him one of his I-know-this-is-all-new-to-you-but-seriously-what-i s-wrong-with-you looks. Then they had continued on their way.

Oz should have been just another stop in his search for a cure for his brother. A place where he would gain insight into the machinations of the human heart. It would have been, it almost had been. But then Jefferson had said they should stop for the night, a little inn just up the road. Victor had been against the idea, he wanted to continue on. It was important that he get as much done as he could when he first arrived in a new land, before the fruitless searches began to take their toll. Before the failures began to pile up. Before the futility of it all began to set in. If they had just continued on, moved forward as Victor had intended, Oz would have been just another crossed off name in his list of realms in his journal. Just another failed expedition.

It had come down to a flip of a coin. One that Victor later thought Jefferson must have fixed. He should have asked to see the coin first. Jefferson won the toss and they switched course. He often wondered how much of his life was of his own choosing, and how much of it was nothing more than simple chance.

There was a sickness, several children had taken ill. The inn was crowded with people in pain. He had wanted to keep his profession a secret, most realms didn't even know what a doctor was. But it was such a simple thing, he knew how to treat them, how to fix them. He scraped some mold off of a piece of bread and a few days later everyone was cured. It was a trick he had been taught in medical school, a way to deal with illness in the field. It was a scientific discovery. They called him a wizard.

He hated it when they called him that. He tried everything he could think of to get them to call him doctor. Even going so far as to tell them that Doctor was his first name. The title of Wizard persisted. It wasn't magic he would insist, but they would hear none of it. Magic was all they knew, science was the unreal here. He hated realms like that, ones that couldn't see any other solution to a problem than to wave a wand over it.

He didn't even notice her at first. She was just another person vying for his attention, distracting him from his main purpose for being in this land. Slowing him down. He had been in the same town for almost a week at that point, far longer than he had stayed anywhere since his brother had died. Jefferson had wandered off after the third day. That man was more restless than even Victor was. Jefferson was probably in another realm by now. Victor was hardly concerned, it wouldn't have been the first time Jefferson abandoned him in some strange world. He would return eventually, usually claiming that he had only been in the next town over. Victor had once spent eight months in a realm that may or may not have existed solely on the back of a giant turtle, simply because Jefferson said he would be back in two weeks. Sometimes he didn't wonder if that man was missing the part of his brain that kept track of time.

He had just finished giving another round of injections when she cornered him.

"Would now be a good time to talk Doctor?"

She called him Doctor. After so long of being called Wizard, he was slightly surprised to be called by the right title. It was probably the only reason he didn't brush her off, for what she later told him would have been the fourth time.

"I...Yes. I suppose now is as good a time as any. What was it you wished to speak to me about...?"

"Glinda."

"Glinda, yes, right."

"I wished to speak to you about what you were doing in this realm, clearly you are not from this land. I heard you traveled here with a Hatter?"

"Yes, Jefferson. Although he's not around at the moment if you are wishing to travel to another realm yourself. When he returns, I'm sure he would be more than happy..."

"I'm not interested in leaving this realm. My interest lies in whether or not you intend to."

"Of course. I'm just here for a short time. Once I find what I am looking for or Jefferson returns I will be on my way."

"And what is it you are searching for Doctor?"

He hadn't told her the truth then. He hadn't told her his true purpose. Months later, he had. He had confessed to his actions and his obsessions. At the time however, he had simply said an ingredient to a medicine. Something that would benefit many. She had believed him, and yet. He could tell she knew he was hiding something. He had been determined to avoid her. If she found out the truth, she might try to have him chased out of this realm. He couldn't allow that to happen. Not before he found the cure he so desperately sought.

So the next day, he moved towns. He treated the people, moved about his day, and suddenly she was there. It was the same at the next town. And the next. He would have confronted her about it, but all the people he was treating spoke so highly of her. She was a leader to them, and it wouldn't do well to piss off the leader of these people. For the next month she would trap him as he was leaving a house, or when he was trying to eat, and try to talk to him. The conversations always felt so forced on his part. He would struggle to figure out what it was she wanted him to say. She had no such issue, any awkward comments or silences on his part she would just breeze through as though they never happened. He had never met anyone so sociable in his entire life. He found her completely irritating.

She was a witch, magic was to her what science was to him. Except, science was an art. You had to train, to constantly be studying, constantly questioning the rules and even your own understanding of the world around you. Magic was more like a natural talent. Not everyone could learn magic, and not everyone used it. He wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or respect the fact that she never actually seemed to use magic. Except for her innate ability to be at his next destination before he even arrived there. He was sure he was leaving these towns before her and yet there she always seemed to be. At the moment, annoyance was winning.

"What do you mean, no? Aren't you a witch, can't you just magic something up?"

"This sickness is beyond my powers."

"This sickness is caused by a virus due to bad hygiene practices. There's no evil sorcerer behind it, surely you could fix this with a wave of your hand. Instead of me going to every single town in your realm and giving an injection to every single person."

"Magic…"

"Yes, I am well aware of the limitations of magic. But you have to understand, this will take me weeks. People could die in that time, before I ever get to them. Not to mention the fact that I didn't come to this realm to cure your sick. This is…."

"So stop."

"Excuse me?"

"Stop moving from town to town. Stop wasting your time, you have already spent months giving all of these injections yourself. Do what you came here to do, find what you came here to find. Stop."

He was dumbfounded. Stop? But there were still sick and dying people.

"That never occurred to you, did it Doctor? The idea of abandoning an entire people to die to serve your own need, it never crossed your mind. I would move to a new town, and in each town I would think, 'This time. This time he will not show. He will have given up, have seen the hopelessness of trying to save everyone, and will have abandoned us.' Every time I would steel my heart, but every time you would show. You would come and cure the people and ask for nothing in return."

"I…I'm a doctor. That's my job."

It was the first time he had ever heard her laugh. It was a strange sound, one he found difficult to forget.

"It is more than your job, it is you. You are precisely the man we have been waiting for, Doctor."

"Waiting for what?"

"You are going to save us."

"That's what I've been trying to do." She had already walked away by the time he got the sentence out. He hated it when magic users spoke like that. Like they knew something about your future. Like it was all pre-determined. He dismissed her words without another thought. Her laugh however, seemed to stick with him for the rest of the day. And the next day. He found himself less and less irritated by her constant presence. Eventually he began to seek her out at the end of the day. She was…unusual, but he found himself unable to be put-off, even by her magical tendencies. She was intelligent, their talks often lasting for hours.

Eventually there were no more towns, no more patients. He had lost track of how long he had been in the realm of Oz. Some nights he even feared that he was losing sight of his true purpose. Gerhardt…

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you would like to see the Emerald City? It is the heart of our realm, our strength stems from its keep."

"Is that where your government and leaders are?"

"In a manner of speaking, it was thankfully untouched by the sickness that swept through the country."

"Where is this city of yours?"

"It is rather far, however not so far if you would allow me to take you there."

Victor was uncertain. She had offered to use magic to transport them from village to village, but he had always resisted.

"I promise we won't leave any pieces of you behind Doctor."

She would tease him, smiling all the while. He couldn't remember why he used to be annoyed by that.

"I suppose if I have your word on that."

She took his arm. The world swayed.

"There it is Doctor, the Emerald City."

Victor was at first, stunned by the city. The tall green spires, the gates surrounding the entire cityscape. It was an impressive feat. It would have given even the architects in his realm a run for their money. But then they began to walk closer. And the city began to lose some of its appeal.

"It wasn't always called the Emerald City was it?"

Glinda never seemed to show surprise when he managed to figure out an aspect of her world without having to tell him. But the slight rise of the eyebrows gave her away.

"No. Originally it was known as King's Crown. It was changed to the Emerald City years ago…"

"When the entire thing began to rust and turn green. Copper is a very good conductor, I'm not sure how great of an idea it is to build an entire city out of it. How do you keep everyone from being electrocuted during a lightning storm?"

"We have magical fields that protect the city."

"But not enough magic to prevent corrosion?"

"The amount of effort it would take…"

"Yes, yes. The energy expenditure, even magically related, would be greater than the simplicity of simply renaming it the Emerald City? Is all of your realm like this? Is everything just illusions and tricks to keep people from seeing that it's all rusting around them?"

"Some amount of…trickery, has been necessary these past few years. But that is all going to change soon. Soon Oz will return to its former glory."

Victor knew better than to ask how it would all change. She kept hinting that he was integral to the plan, to the betterment of the realm. He doubted it, but if Oz had the library of information that Glinda had hinted at, he was more than willing to let her have her fantasy. She was a singularly smart woman, but her childlike belief in returning Oz to its glory days, worried Victor. He had seen other realms that had once been great and it had fallen into decay. Abandoned realms. Every empire falls away and turns into dust and legend eventually. Perhaps this was just the end of Oz. He could see no greater portent of that end than the fact that their great city was eating away at itself. Eventually its walls would become brittle and fall, no prophesy would prevent that.

She showed him the library, the halls, the kitchens. Every part of the Emerald City was the same. It had once been grand and awe-inspiring, but the dust and the disuse crept into every room. Even rooms with people in them seemed, empty. Abandoned. It was more than just the sickness that he had been fighting that had caused this apathy. They all knew it, they could all sense that the time of Oz was over. They were the keepers of the catacombs and tombs that the city would soon become. Everyone was resigned to their fate, everyone except Glinda.

She spoke of every room they walked through as it once was and how it would be again. How magic and science would work together to revitalize the land, bring the people back together.

"I wouldn't be surprised if your friend had taken several people with him through that hat of his."

"That's not really how it works, you see the hat operates using..."

"Yes well, the people are giving up hope. Abandoning Oz, fleeing to other realms. We can finally say that the prophesy coming true. That you are here to save the people of Oz and…"

"Glinda, please. You keep speaking of this prophesy, of me saving everyone. Haven't I already done that? Isn't it just as likely that by curing the sick, I have technically saved Oz?"

It didn't do to question the prophesy around her, or to call into question the reliability of a Seer. So he tried to explain it to her logically, he had already done his part, the prophesy was complete.

"But Oz, the Emerald City…"

"Is just a city. A structure that will fall down like every other structure has done when time catches up with it. Glinda….maybe if people are already abandoning Oz it is because they know that this place is…"

"No. That can't be what the prophesy meant. It is very clear... 'A man from another realm will arrive and bring forth the way to new life. The darkness will flee for fear of the fire, and Oz will rise out of the ashes to begin anew.' You see Victor you saved everyone, alright that is the first part, but you still have to help rebuild Oz."

He should have left. He should have argued harder. Picked apart the supposed prophesy, shown her how many hundreds of different ways it could have been interpreted. But. But she was looking at him with such….hope in her eyes. Such certainty that he would help them, that she could believe in him. No one had ever looked at him like that. No one had ever believed in him so strongly.

So he made the second greatest mistake he had ever made in his entire life.

"Alright. Tell me how it is I am supposed to save Oz."

 

Chapter 3

He awoke to voices whispering at the edges of his mind.

"There is no way that is comfortable. His neck is going to kill him when he wakes up."

As if on cue, his neck began to ache. He would have to pay Emma back for that somehow, clearly they all had been imbued with magical properties that allowed them to control his muscles.

"He needed sleep, he looked exhausted."

There were more, David and Emma were the only two speaking, but he could hear breathing around him. And there was a warm presence at his side. He didn't have to look, he knew it was Ruby. She was the only one who would invade his personal space like that. Who would give him any comfort she could, even if he was unconscious. Might as well get this over with.

"I understand that my handsome looks are appealing, but surely you haven't confused me with Sleeping Beauty. "

Sarcasm was his first shield. His best line of defense. It wouldn't hold up very long, but at least it was the appearance of strength. Emma rolled her eyes, David did the same. They looked very much like father and daughter in that moment. Annoyance with him, bringing families together.

"I've met Sleeping Beauty. You don't have anything on her."

"Really? Hmm. It's hard to be facetious in this town isn't it?"

Victor looked around as he stretched out the muscles in his neck. Emma and David stood opposite him, Mary Margaret and Henry were getting something to eat across the room. Searching through the meager offerings the hospital cafeteria provided.

"If they are trying to find a healthy option for dinner, they would be better suited looking in the vending machines. I think the only thing they serve down here is chicken nuggets and pancakes. It's an odd combination, although I find sometimes…."

"Victor."

He had been doing so well. So steadfastly ignoring Ruby. No small feat considering how close she was sitting to him. She pushed him a coffee. Still hot. How many times had she refilled the cup while they waited for him to wake up, just so he could have fresh coffee when he needed it? He was going to miss this. Their concern. Their familiarity. Maybe stalling could still work.

"I should go check on my patients. I'm sure…"

He didn't even get halfway out of his seat. He knew how strong Ruby was, had first hand experience with how strong her grip could be. This touch was light, her fingertips barely brushed his sleeve. Her fingers on his forearm. Such a tenuous touch, it shouldn't have been enough to stop him, let alone make him sit back down. He looked at her fingers. He couldn't bring himself to look at her eyes. He couldn't look any of them in the face. He resigned himself to his fate. He deserved it anyway.

"What do you want to know?"

"Are you ok?"

He laughed. At least he hoped it was a laugh. It might have been more of a strangled sob.

"I've been worse."

"Whale, whatever your relationship with…the person who was here earlier. We need to know if she is going to be a threat."

"Glinda."

"So it's true then. You're the Wizard of Oz!"

Victor found Mary Margaret and Henry's return ill-timed. He would have rather wished that the boy wasn't here for this. The way he said the Wizard, like it was something to be proud of. Some great memory. Henry couldn't possibly know the truth, he…

"Are there really flying monkeys and…"

"Henry. That's enough."

"But, I just wanted…"

"Other people's pasts don't exist solely to feed your curiosity Henry. Maybe there are some things Dr. Whale here would rather not share." Mary Margaret was always so kind. It was a shame things were so awkward between them. Perhaps they could have been friends.

There were a great many things he didn't want to share. But they had seen Theodora's magic, had witness just how utterly powerless they would be if she ever came back. They would want to know every detail. Starting with how he had managed to persuade her to stop.

"Alright Whale, just answer me this." Emma sat down and looked him in the eye. "Will Glinda be a threat to us again?"

Glinda would never be a threat to anyone. She wouldn't have hurt a soul. Theodora would burn this entire realm to the ground if she thought it would be fun. If the cell they were trapped in held, if no one damaged it, or tried to break into it again…

"No."

She might have known he was lying. Technically he wasn't lying, he just wasn't sure if what he was saying was true.

"You sure?"

"Does Rumpelstiltskin intend to try and open whatever door he opened to bring her through again?"

Their uneasy glances worried him. Suddenly it clicked.

"It wasn't just him was it? You were all involved in this."

"He said it was safe, that we could…"

"Oh Rumpelstiltskin said it was safe. Well then I'm surprised it didn't work." He was furious, he should have been furious. He wanted to stand up, flip the table, throw a chair. But he couldn't muster the energy to rise. He felt numb. Their blindness to the dangers such magic posed astounded him. His mind ran through the scenarios. He felt sick.

"He told you there was an untapped power. Something he could control, something that would fix everything. Take you home, banish the ogres, rebuild your castles. All you had to do was help him hold open a door between realms. He's the Dark One after all, what could possibly be more powerful than him? How am I doing?"

"Victor, how did you…"

"Because that's exactly what Glinda said to me." He rose from his chair. He was too tired for this. "Please tell me you aren't stupid enough to let him talk you into trying again."

David clenched his jaw. The rest just stared at him.

"I have to do what is right for my people. If Gold thinks he can be better prepared to…"

"If you help that man open that door again, I will consider you my enemy. And I will do everything in my power to stop you."

The threat hung between them. David could see the danger in Victor's eyes, knew he wasn't lying. Ruby stood beside him.

"We won't try again."

"Ruby!"

"What? If Victor says it's too dangerous, then I say we listen to him. He clearly has more knowledge and experience in dealing with this Glinda person. I know who I would rather trust if I had to choose between him and Gold."

"I'm with them." Emma was level-headed. Her distrust of magic probably helped as well. David and Mary Margaret almost looked betrayed. "We will find another way you guys, Ruby's right. The danger is too great. That chic kicked our butts and it didn't even look like she noticed us there. I don't care what Gold thinks, he clearly isn't the most powerful creature out there."

Henry stood up and Emma put her arms around his shoulders.

"Yea, come on Grandma and Grandpa, we will find another way."

"You don't understand what it's like. Having every single person depend on every decision you make. Trusting you to always make the right call."

He did know. He had felt that burden, and he never wished to feel it again. He didn't envy David's position. But he couldn't pity him either, not when he knew exactly how it would go if they tried to meddle with Theodora again. Victor knew there was only one choice, and he would hate to have to kill David to keep him from making the same mistakes Victor once had. Despite everything, Victor found he rather liked David.

"David…" Mary Margaret was with them now. Victor could already see David's resolve start to crumble. Good. These people were the closest things he had to friends, it would be a shame to turn them into enemies so early. They were probably still months away from that happening.

"Alright. I'll tell Gold that we aren't doing this again. That we will find another way."

"And if the illustrious Mr. Gold decides to go forward with it anyway?"

"He won't." Henry's naïvety towards the true workings of the world was both inspiring and saddening. He wouldn't always be that way. One day that boy was going to realize that not everyone had good in them. That some people would always be monsters, no matter how much you believed in them.

"I'm going to go home and try to get some sleep in my bed. If you will excuse me."

"I'll walk with you."

"That isn't..."

"Not an option Victor."

He turned and walked out of the room. Ruby only a few steps behind him. He was sure the others had questions. Things they still needed to know. Answers he still had to give. Perhaps that was why Ruby had insisted on going with him. She was one of them, practically David's right hand there for a while. They probably figured she would be the one who could get him to talk. To...

"Did you tell them?"

"Did I tell them what?"

"About my..." He waved his hands in the general direction of the docks as they walked down the street. If she had told them how unstable he was, about the secrets he had been keeping, it would explain...

"Of course not. Victor...I won't tell them anything you don't want them to know."

"And if I told you something that would endanger the town, endanger their safety. Would you keep that a secret as well? Just to protect my fragile psyche."

"Yes."

"Ruby, I'm not an idiot."

"I'm not so sure."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Victor." There was that hand on his forearm again. Holding him so tightly in place. "I will keep any secret you tell me. If there was something that was a danger to the town, I know you wouldn't keep that a secret. You want to protect these people just as much as the rest of us. You're not the kind of man who would..."

"You have no idea the kind of man I am. The things I've..."

"It's not like it will be…."

He knew exactly what she was going to say. Exactly what they all had to be thinking at this point.

"It's not like it can be any worse than being Victor Frankenstein? That's what you're thinking right? How could it possibly be any worse than that. The things I've told you already, those have to be the worst of it?" Victor felt exhausted again. He needed to sleep some more. Maybe get drunk enough that he wouldn't even dream about it. "It…"

What could he say? It was worse. It was agony on a scale that even thinking about his brother couldn't scratch. At least he still had hope, still had the chance of closure with his brother. Maybe one day he could even accept Gerhardt's death. Glinda was a wound that would never heal, never fade, never be any less painful. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will away the pain that seemed to spread to every part of his body whenever he thought about her.

"It is worse Ruby. I was worse."

Her hand was still on his arm. It hadn't moved, but then, she didn't know yet.

"I did that to her." He felt the words leave his lips, felt them catch in the air. They seemed to linger there. The words became heavy. Almost as if by saying them, he had removed the last bit of air from his lungs. He could barely breathe. Her hand moved from his arm.

"I should go, you should go Ruby. I can't..." Her hands were on his face.

"Breathe Victor." He was breathing. He just couldn't convince his body that he was. He focused on the feeling of her hands on his face. Of the strength she possessed. Glinda had been that strong.

"Ruby, I'm sorry I shouldn't..."

"Hey, I told you if you ever needed me you were supposed to call. I'd say having your ex show up and try to kill everyone in town is a pretty legitimate excuse to need a friend."

He didn't know what to say. They walked to his front door. It took him several tries to get the key in the lock. Some surgeon he was, the way his hands shook he would kill the next person he tried to help. Although considering that was always what seemed to happen anyway, it wouldn't be much of a change for him.

He walked to the fridge and found some leftovers and started to heat them up. Ruby had situated herself on his couch.

"You don't have to stay. I'm not going to do anything...rash."

"I know Victor. I don't think you're still suicidal. I just...don't want you to be alone right now. We don't have to talk. There are other things we could do."

Victor gave Ruby a significant look.

"Like watch a movie or something you pig. Get your mind out of the gutter Doc." She smirked when she said it. Always teasing him. The microwave beeped behind him.

He couldn't really remember what they watched. They didn't speak about Glinda, or anything really. They just, sat on the couch and watch some cheesy movie they spent half the time making fun of. The next morning she was still lying on his couch. She looked so peaceful. He didn't want to wake her. He left her a note saying he would text her later, that he had to go to the hospital. She wouldn't know that his shift didn't start for another three hours. Technically it wasn't a lie. There was someone there he needed to speak to.

One of the benefits of being the only licensed medical doctor in a hospital is that no one questions you. You can walk into any room, take any medicine out of the store room, speak to any patient. None of the other people there knew proper medical procedures. They might have the book knowledge the curse gave them, like which medicines were for what diseases, but they had no real grasp of how to actually treat someone. Being a doctor was more than just reading the warning labels on medications.

"How is the patient, Nurse?"

"He is responding well to the medications Doctor, everything is healing nicely."

"Thank you nurse, I will take it from here." He didn't actually know the nurse's name, although in his head he refered to her as Nurse Ratched. Something about her hairstyle perhaps, or her complete and utter lack of a sense of humor. He didn't need her to make jokes, he just needed her to leave.

"Of course Doctor."

Victor closed the door behind her.

"If one more of you poke or jab me with a needle, I am going to have add the lot of you to my list of enemies. I only remove a person from that list after I have killed them."

"I will keep that in mind Mr. Jones."

"I prefer to be called Captain."

"You've been to other realms Captain?"

"I have. Why exactly are you here Doctor? Something nefarious I would gather. Either that or you wouldn't have sent that lovely nurse away. What is it you don't want anyone knowing about?"

This was foolish. But he needed someone who knew other realms, someone who would be willing to look the other way when certain...moral lines needed to be crossed. Someone with a vested interest in seeing Rumpelstiltskin put in his place. Victor did not have Henry's belief that Gold would back down so easily. Especially if he thought the way to bring back Belle's memory lie with the power that Glinda possessed.

"I'm here, because I need help with something."

"Sorry, Doctor. You've come to the wrong man if you are looking for a favor. Afraid I'm just not the giving sort."

"I know how to kill Rumpelstiltskin."

"You've got some stones, I'll give you that. But many a man have claimed to know how to kill the Dark One, and seeing as it doesn't look like you have a dagger stashed under that white coat of yours, I'd say you're lying to me. Which is hurtful, really. I like to think of myself as..."

"I won't need the dagger you speak of...that is to say, you won't need the dagger. Help me, and I will give you the means to exact your revenge."

"And if I refuse?"

They both knew he wouldn't. Victor knew the look in Hook's eyes. He knew how hard obsession was to overcome. How it pulled you, how it wrapped it's fingers around your heart. Hook wouldn't say no.

"You stay locked to this bed until Emma or David take you to a jail cell. They might let you out if they need you for something. But once they are done they will lock you right back. Help me, and as soon as our business is finished, you will be free to do whatever it is you choose."

Hook seemed to consider his offer.

"I'll need my hook back."

"That can be arranged."

"Well then my curative friend, I'd say you have yourself a deal. How are you going to explain my sudden disappearance?"

Victor pulled the key to the handcuffs out of his pocket. Emma had given him the spare in case some medical emergency presented itself. He unlocked Hook's arm from the bed rail. Then he pulled out a bobby pin.

"I took this off of the nurse that just left." He bent the pin slightly then dropped it on the floor beside Hook's bed. "They will think that you somehow lifted that off of her, and were able to pick the lock."

"One handed? I'm talented with one hand mate, but I'm not that good."

"It doesn't have to make sense. It just has to be plausible enough that they won't look for any other explanation."

"And if they do?"

"Then they will just assume Cora had something to do with your release."

"You've given this some thought."

"Not really. People are easy enough to manipulate, all you have to do is give them a situation they might be able to believe and they will accept it. Your enemy's mind is often your greatest ally."

"I thought they were your friends, not your enemies."

"They are my friends. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to protect the people you care about." Even if it makes them hate you. Even if it means you die by their hands.

"You know mate, for one of the good guys, you are being particularly underhanded. One might even say, wicked."

"I'm not one of the good guys."

Victor pictured Glinda's eyes, begging him to save her. The hopelessness in them as he locked her in that cage.

"I never was."

Chapter 4

It was less a plan and more a hastily thrown together string of ideas. Find the prophesied power, use it, save Oz. Every time Glinda spoke of it, every time she would look at him with that certainty in her eyes, Victor would find himself unable to question the validity of such a plan. It wasn't just the fact that they had no idea where this power source was or what they would do with it when they did find it. It was the people of Oz as well. They were losing hope that their land could be saved. More and more were leaving every day.

"Are you sure they are leaving? Perhaps they are just in other parts of the realm."

"No. I sense it. Every day they lose their way and suddenly, their essence is gone."

"Perhaps the sickness has returned and they..." It was far more likely that these people were dead than that they had traveled to another realm. In all of his excursions, Victor had only ever seen Jefferson able to travel between the realms at will. There were rumors of other ways, magic beans and the like, but those were supposed to be unstable and unreliable means of transport. For there to be mass movements between realms would require a type of power that Victor was unfamiliar with.

"No, I would be able to feel their deaths...transportation is the only thing that makes sense." Glinda didn't sound entirely convinced. Victor got the sense that she had to believe they had left the realm. The idea that something else, something more sinister, had occurred was more than she could allow herself to think on. She had to stay focused on the matter at hand. She handed him another book. They had spent days in the great library. Victor was itching to look at some of their anatomy books, but Glinda kept handing him more and more history books. More tales of Oz's past, it's lost relics, its hidden treasures. He should have told her no, that this was not why he originally came to Oz. But each time she handed him another book, he said nothing.

"What do you think about this one?"

Victor scanned the sentence she was pointing at.

"A stone within the hidden rooms of the everlasting palace?"

"Yes."

"Have you found any other references to this stone?"

"No, that is what makes me believe that it is what we are searching for. It must be so powerful that even the great mages of the past feared to speak of it. See here? It looks like someone tried to burn the information out of the page."

The book was charred in several places. Many other words were marred beyond recognition. But this sentence was clear, it almost appeared as thought it had been written yesterday. Not several centuries ago.

"I don't suppose you know where this hidden palace is?"

"I think I might. Another book once referred to the caverns that stretch beneath the great mountains to the east as rooms. The author said that it appeared as though each cave led to another room, more grand and spacious than the last. Each room was fit for a king. I believe those are the hidden palace. The caverns would far outlast any palace ever built by man."

"How large are these caverns?"

"It is rumored that they stretch for hundreds of miles, that you could walk underneath all of Oz."

Fabulous. He could spend the rest of his life lost in the darkness underneath Oz. No hope of escape or finding a way out. Eventually they would both die of starvation or dehydration. Glinda put her hand on his arm. She smiled at him, her eyes full of excitement. He supposed there were worse ways to die.

"All right. How do we find the entrance to these caves?"

"I believe there is an entrance at the base of a mountain, far past even the most outer of villages of our realm."

"You believe? You've never been in these caves before?"

"No. But I know we will find the way." She stood abruptly, he moved to stand as well. He put his hands on her shoulders. This plan was foolish. He noticed how close they were standing. Victor temporarily forgot why he had moved to stop her. She laughed. His spine tingled in the most peculiar way.

"I'm excited too Victor. But this is hardly the time. But since we are standing like this anyway..."

She smirked. The moment to stop this, to set out a real plan, to develop a strategy, disappeared as quickly as they did. He was never going to get used to the teleportation that Glinda was capable of. She was still smiling at him. She knew exactly what she did to him. He smiled back.

"Tease."

She playfully pushed him away. He saw the mountain above them. It towered higher than any building Victor had ever seen, higher than any human could ever hope to match. Palace indeed. There was an inscription written near a crack in the wall that was meant to serve as the entrance to the tunnels. He moved closer, hoping that Glinda could...

"What..."

Victor turned away from the inscription. Glinda's voice had sounded so...lost. Whatever she had seen had removed any excitement from her. Her body was rigid. Victor looked past her. He regretted not trying to stop this foolish exercise now more than ever.

"Are those...are those the people that live out here?"

Glinda was moving towards them. Victor, at first glance, had thought it to be some sort of cemetery. The stone statues that lined every corner of the field, they stretched far beyond his sight. They were scattered on the ground like stars in the sky. Each one visible, but too many to truly fathom. Such statues were not uncommon on his world. People wanted to be remembered long after death and would go to great pains to have a convincing likeness carved in marble. But these statues were not standing somberly in rows, they did not have serene expressions on their faces. These statues appeared to have been frozen in mid-step. Some running, some kneeling as if in prayer, others bent over the forms of their children. These statues did not display a stoic presence, did not display a grand confidence. These statues screamed of fear.

Glinda put her hands on a pair of statues. Their arms wrapped around each other. Protecting each other. She was trying to do some sort of magic, trying to reach the people trapped inside. Trying to free them. Victor stood back and for the first time in his life, hoped that magic would prevail.

"It's no use, my magic cannot reach them...Maybe you can..." Tears. She was crying. Victor didn't know what to do. He wanted to be able to comfort her, to offer her a scientific way to save them. To give her the hope she so desperately needed. Maybe with time and proper facilities he could find a way to turn these people back. He held no illusions about the amount of time it would take though. Years. If it was even possible. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"We will find a way." He wasn't sure he used to lie this much. If you wanted to be a scientist, you had to be honest. Had to accept when a procedure wasn't working, had to change your plans, your methods. Science was the art of honesty. It often meant accepting that everything you believed to be true was false. You often had to find a new truth. This constant state of wanting to please her, to tell her what she wanted to hear, was new. Perhaps it wasn't really a lie. Maybe one day he could make the words true.

"We have to find the power Victor. Whatever is causing this, we will fight it back. We will restore these people. This must be a part of the prophecy as well. We are meant to save them." She turned and looked at the statues.

"I do no know if you can hear me, but if you can. We will save you. I swear it, we will find the power to restore you. Do not lose hope, people of Oz. Have faith in us."

It was a good speech. She spoke with such passion. Such determination. Such faith. He couldn't help but feel it was wasted on these stone sentinels. She turned away from the field and head back towards the cave. He could see it in her walk, in the glint of her eyes. Her resolve to find the power had only increased. His seemed to decrease by the day. Each new place, each bit of information they learned all pointed to the same conclusion. This land was dying. He tried to bury the thoughts whenever they crept into his mind. But his brain had always been difficult to silence. The thought persisted, it wormed its way in and planted itself firmly at the forefront of this thoughts. There was no other explanation.

The land itself was decaying. The sickness he had combated when he first arrived hadn't been the only problem the people of Oz had. They were all malnourished, their faces sunken in, their clothes too loose on their frames. He had thought it was just a side effect of the sickness. But every village he went to he saw the same, and they all said the same thing. They spoke of failed crops, of poor harvests. Their fields had been producing less and less. The soils that had once fed the entire land could barely support the villages surrounding the Emerald City. Most did not know how the outer lands were surviving. Years ago the outer villages would send messengers to the inner villages and to the capital itself. Asking for food, for men to help find new places to till and plant. For help. But each year these requests became less and less frequent. Eventually they stopped all together. Years passed and those who lived nearest to the Emerald City would tell themselves that the outer lands must have found new soil to farm. That the people out there were surviving on their own, that was why the pleas for help had stopped. They no longer needed to ask for food. It would appear that they had been partially right at least.

It was impossible to tell how long they had been frozen, how many untold thousands that lived in the outer lands had been converted. Victor assumed that everyone not living in the land near the Emerald City had also been turned to stone. Glinda had said that she could sense the people leaving, this must have been it. But if it was caused by magic...Victor followed Glinda into the cave. He had hoped to try and decipher the carvings on the side of the entrance before they entered but Glinda had pushed forward without a backward glance. She created a ball of light that floated in front of her, it illuminated the dark passage way. He didn't know how she knew where she was going. He simply walked in step behind her. Trusting that she knew the way through the splits and the twists. He tried not to think about the fact that Glinda had said she had never been to this cave before. Surely she had to know where she was going somehow.

His father had once told him that every empire falls, and it is rarely to battle. Of course the history books spoke of the great civilizations that were felled by enemies. Of the glorious battles and almost mythical figures who led the final stands. Who watched their people and lands torn apart by war and natural disaster. Those were the stories people wanted to hear. They wanted to believe that when it was time for their own empire to fall, they would at least have a final fight. A final chance to show the world how great they could still be. Even if they were destined to fail, at least they fought to the end. History was very forgiving of those who went out in a blaze of glory.

Rubbish. His father had called most history books sensational retellings of boring events. Great men rarely rose in the final hours. If they had been so great, his father said, they would have risen prior to the final hour and actually done something to save their people. Something real, like broker a treaty, or build up alliances with other countries. Things that could have actually saved their empires. For most there was no final battle, there was no great moment. Most civilizations fell not to the sword, but to rust. You can only over-till the land, over fish the sea, or overpopulate your city for so long before something gives. History was less forgiving to those that simply drifted away. Whose people left during famines to find other homes, whose temples fell to the weapons of weather and time. Those stories were often buried. Forgotten, as if they were something not worth knowing.

Oz's time had come. It's people had great technology and magic, but it was all from earlier generations. They had sat back on their laurels and believed that they no longer needed to find any new innovations. They had believed themselves to have reached the peak of their civilization, and they rejoiced. They should have been afraid. Once your empire peaks, once it reaches it's full potential, there is only one way left for it to go. It was a natural progression. Everything had to end eventually.

"Are you sure this is the way?" They had just gone through the third tunnel to the left in a five way split. Glinda hadn't even hesitated, hadn't taken even a moment to consider another path.

"Yes."

"How? You said that there could be hundreds of different ways through the mountains. That the tunnels might even stretch out underneath all of the land of Oz. How can you be sure that..."

"I don't know Victor. I...I can hear something. Something calling me, telling me which way to turn. It is our destiny to find it, I know that now more than ever."

"Glinda. Have you ever...have you ever seen anything like that before? With the people above I mean."

"No..."

"But?"

"There were old stories of a mountain that hated the people of Oz. This mountain would turn people into stone, as payment for all the minerals that the people had taken from the earth."

"Is that true?"

"Of course not. Even with magic, a mountain is just rocks. It is not capable of thought."

"You told me that Oz is a land created by magic. That the ground itself is..."

"What is your point Victor?"

What was his point? He wasn't sure. There was something his mind was trying to tell him. Something about those statues that he should have noticed. Something if he could only grasp would help him understand, would help him explain it to Glinda. It was so close...he could feel the answer struggling to break through.

"I..."

"Victor." His name was little more than an excited exclamation of air. She had whispered it, as though they had to be quiet. As though they were in the presence of a deity. Perhaps they were. The stone was embedded in the wall of the cave in front of them. There was no pedestal, no light shining upon it. It needed no such presentation. Just being in the same room as the stone was enough to make your heart rate speed up. To make you question every thought you had ever had. It was power. It was everything.

Victor felt it in his mind. With that stone he could unlock the secrets to immortality, he could bring his brother back. He could save Oz. All he had to do was reach out and...

"no." Victor tried to get his breathing under control. The stone was attempting to control him. They should not have done this. There was a reason that such power was buried so far in the ground. The people outside...they had come seeking the power. In their desperation they had flocked to the pull of the stone. They had ignored the graveyard that had been created by the forms of their brethren. They had run, clawed, and prayed for the stone to save them. But for some reason it had stopped them, it had turned them into stone for coming to this place. For attempting to take from the earth, something that did not belong to them.

But it hadn't stopped him and Glinda from walking in. It wanted them there. Glinda was right, it wanted them to find it. She was only a few steps away from the stone. Her hand outstretched.

"Glinda wait."

He grabbed her wrist. Her eyes jumped to his face.

"Victor can you feel..."

"Yes. Glinda wait, please. We have to think this through. What if this thing is..."

"I can control it Victor. I know I can. Once I have control of it, everything will be put right. The people above, the land, the Emerald City."

"Glinda I..."

"Your brother, Victor. I know, with this power I can help you finish your work. You will have Gerhardt back again. We will both have the things we lost returned to us. Don't you see Victor? You know I'm right. You can feel the power in you, it is unlike anything I have ever seen. But it was meant for me. I was born to possess this stone. To be the master of it's power. To do great things with it."

Victor held on to her wrist. He looked at his fingers, encasing her small hand. He had never noticed how small her hands were compared to his. He wanted to tell her no. Tell her that they couldn't trust the power in front of them. That every instinct in his body was screaming at him to pull her out of there. To leave this place, to leave Oz. They could find a new land, take the survivors somewhere new. Start over.

His heart was screaming at him. Just this once, it was saying, listen to me. Ignore the thoughts in your mind and listen to your heart. You can feel how wrong this all is. She is not strong enough. It will destroy her. You are not smart enough. It is too much. It is too powerful.

Gerhardt had always been Victor's moral compass. He had been the one who would pull Victor back from his darker thoughts. The one who would tell Victor right from wrong. Gerhardt had been Victor's heart.

Victor released Glinda's wrist.

Gerhardt was dead. Victor couldn't trust his heart, it had always been his weakest organ. His mind was what he had always depended on. His mind was telling him this was the rational course of action. Such a power would be necessary for his work to continue. It was the reason he had come to this realm in the first place. Glinda could handle the power. Victor needed Gerhardt back, this was the only way.

He nodded to Glinda.

"Do it."

She reached for the stone. It had begun to pulse. A dark, violent red. Victor saw Glinda's fingers brush the stone. The red light grew brighter. It circled Glinda. She turned and looked at him. She smiled, so bright. The joy in her eyes. The hope.

Then she began to scream.

 

Chapter 5

"I know you are new to this whole villainy thing Doctor but it is generally frowned upon to give your enemy information concerning how you intend to kill him before you actually do it. It's just bad form."

"Just do what I asked you to do Captain."

"Alright. But if he turns you into a cockroach, don't say I didn't try to warn you."

Victor was only slightly aware of Hook walking away. It wouldn't do to be seen walking down the street with the man who just escaped from your hospital. People would talk. More so than they usually did about him anyway. Victor cursed himself as he left the alley. He should listen to Hook. He shouldn't go into Gold's shop. He should just do what needed to be done, not waste his time trying to reason with a mad man.

But...what if he could be reasoned with? If Rumpelstiltskin would listen to him, he wouldn't have to go through with his plan. He could go back to just being a doctor again. He rubbed his eyes, he had been hanging out with the good guys too much. Putting ridiculous notions in his head. If he was back in his home realm, he would have dealt with this his way without question. Without hesitation. Without mercy. He was getting soft, living here. If...When he returned to his home world, he would be killed within a few days if he allowed himself to continue thinking this way. Mercy in his world was a quick death. A gift not many men were given.

But you aren't in your realm anymore. The voice in his head sounded remarkably like Ruby. It was always there. Trying to convince him to turn around. To tell someone other than Hook exactly what he was planning and why. Why it was so important that Glinda not be allowed to be free, no matter what the cost. It was taking a lot more effort to ignore the voice than it should have. He walked into Mr. Gold's shop.

"Victor, what a surprise. Come here to kill me already have you? You will allow me to put some things in order first won't you?" Gold was mocking him. He thought Victor couldn't possibly be a threat. Magic, in his mind, was the ultimate power in the universe. Victor hoped he didn't have to show him how wrong he was.

"I'm not here to kill you."

"I am so relieved."

"I want to talk."

"Whatever about? Oh yes, I assume you mean about that little incident earlier." Victor's hands clenched. Incident. He said it so easily. Like it was an annoyance easily forgotten. He relaxed them. He couldn't lose his temper. He needed to convince Gold to stop looking into Glinda's power.

"Yes. The incident. The power you are seeking. It's...unstable. It can't be controlled. Not in the way that you want."

"That young woman seemed rather in control of her power."

"But not of herself. The power of the stone changed her, made her..."

"Doctor. I am the Dark One. I know all about the transformative nature of magic. Such changes are necessary for such power to be acclimated to one person. I'm sure that..."

"You're not listening to me. It's not the same. The power you have is only a fraction of what the stone is capable of."

"All the more reason to seek it out. If this stone is as powerful as you claim then we need it. We need it to fight Cora, to find...our way home."

"To fix Belle's memory."

"Careful dearie..."

"That's what this is all about isn't it? You think with more power you could bring back her memories. Magic isn't the answer to this. I..."

"You and I are done talking."

"What if you get that power and something worse happens to her? Something you can't even conceive of?"

"Are you threatening Belle?" It was a hiss more than a question. Victor knew he was dangerously close to having all of this limbs ripped off. It wasn't a threat. It was a guarantee. Whether Gold succeeded or not, whether he could control the power or not, Belle would be the most in danger. Theodora had gone after Glinda's friends first. People Glinda cared about. Glinda would regain control only to see people she loved dead at her feet. Dead by her hands. The despair and agony she felt would only allow Theodora a stronger hold. Gold wasn't as strong as Glinda had been. She had held on, tried to regain control several times, even after seeing everything that Theodora had done. If anything happened to Belle, Gold would allow the darkness to take control and never look back.

"She isn't safe, not with you, not with any..."

He felt the magic swirling around them. Building. Closing in on Victor. Gold was going to...

"Gold! What the hell?" Emma was truly living up to her name as a savior. At least as far as getting Victor out of self-created dangerous situations.

"He threatened Belle."

"Alright. Just calm down. No one is going to hurt Belle. She is safe at the hospital."

"She won't be safe anywhere if you go after that power again." He really should learn to keep his mouth shut. Emma looked like she wanted to slap him.

"Ok, that's it. Whale, let's go. Gold. I swear nothing will happen to Belle. Why don't you go to the hospital and check on her now, ok?"

Gold's glare was murderous. In another place, another time, Gold would have killed him long ago. Victor didn't break eye contact. But he didn't return the venom of his stare. Victor's look was resigned, tired. Gold wouldn't listen. He would continue to seek out the power necessary to fix Belle. Apparently Hook had been right. There would be no reasoning with Rumpelstiltskin. He was going to have to go forward with his original plan. Emma grabbed his arm and lead him out of the store. They walked several feet. He could feel her frustration with him building.

"What were you thinking? Seeking out Gold, threatening Belle?"

"I didn't threaten Belle. I simply told Mr. Gold exactly what would happen if he continued to seek the power he brought through the other day."

"The same way you didn't threaten David at the hospital?"

"No, that had been a threat. David doesn't pick up subtlety well, I figured the most direct..."

"Ok, stop. What has gotten into you?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"This. This whole stoic, threatening people in a legitimately scary way thing. It's not..."

"Not what? Not who I am? You don't have the slightest idea who..."

"Hey guys what's...Am I interrupting something?" Ruby. Damn it. He hoped to avoid her until this was all over. She might see what he was up to. Might be able to talk him out of it.

"Ruby. Great. See if you can talk some sense into our mad scientist here."

"I am offended by the term mad scientist. A rather derogatory term for..."

"See, this is what I'm talking about. How you are going from intense threatening to kill people guy to funny sarcastic guy in like two seconds."

"I did I not tell you that I was also Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" There was a pregnant pause. Emma was trying to decide if he was being serious or not. Victor schooled his face to give nothing away.

"Are you?"

Victor smiled. He wondered how many other monsters he could convince them that he was. Maybe he should throw in Dracula and the creature from the Black Lagoon as well. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Ruby, talk to him. See if you can figure out what's going on in that twisted mind of his."

"Got it."

Emma walked away. Probably off to tell the others that he was acting more unstable than usual. Wouldn't be long before they had someone watching his movements. Making sure he wasn't digging up bodies or creating any monsters in his laboratory. His eyes flicked to Ruby. Perhaps they already had. It would explain why Ruby had been spending so much time with him recently. She used to be glued to David and Mary Margaret's side, now she rarely joined in on their misadventures. Perhaps they had asked her to watch him, to make sure they didn't have another villain to deal with. It would make sense.

"So. Threatening people huh?"

"It wasn't...Mr. Gold took my advice the entirely wrong way."

"I see. So he still plans to look for the power, to try and bring...Glinda through again."

"It would appear so."

"And you have a plan to stop him."

Victor snapped his mouth shut. He had almost answered her. Almost told her everything. No. He couldn't. She wouldn't approve, wouldn't understand what had to be done. She would think that what he was suggesting was cruel. But sometimes, such cruelties are necessary.

"Oh come on Victor, I can see it in your eyes. You're hiding something. Look, whatever it is. Just tell me. You know I won't judge you for anything you say. Anything you're thinking. No matter how dark or twisted you think it is. You said you would come to me, remember? If you needed to talk."

Her hand on his arm was distracting. It seemed to make his regular thought processes slow down. Made it difficult to remember why he thought he had to do this alone. Maybe she wouldn't judge him. Maybe she would listen. He should tell her. She understood what it meant to be a monster. To have thoughts in your head that other people didn't.

"Do...do you think we could get something to eat?" He wouldn't call it stalling. He really was hungry. He needed some time to think about what he was going to say. He had to order his thoughts.

"Sure. Granny's made some special hamburgers today. We can eat while we talk."

Good. This was good. Ruby would understand. Then she could convince the others that steps needed to be taken to stop Gold. They walked in silence to the restaurant. She wasn't going to push the subject. Whatever he wanted to share was up to him. He admired her patience. He admired a great many things about her. That was a conversation they would probably never have though.

They sat across from each other. Ruby had spoken briefly to Granny when they had walked in, either giving their order or telling her to go grab her crossbow, Victor couldn't be sure. He looked down at his hands. That was unfair. Ruby had yet to betray his confidence or trust. He put a hand to his head. She was the closest thing to a friend he had had in a long time. Maybe this was a mistake. His loneliness and isolation was causing him to reach out to people. People he should be keeping at a distance. He didn't know why he continued to try and let people in. It always ended...

"Hey, stop it." The tone was gentle, only slightly chiding. Ruby smiled at him.

"Stop what?"

"Beating yourself up. Telling yourself this is a mistake. That you're better off alone. I've seen that look before, I've had that look before. Thinking like that, it won't get you anywhere Victor."

He smiled slightly.

"I know. It's just..."

"Hard to trust when you've been on your own for so long. I get it Victor." She slid her hand across the table. Her fingers encased his wrist. "We can sit here as long as you want Victor."

He had trouble focusing when she was near him. He wondered if it had something to do with werewolf pheromones. Maybe she was unintentionally...He jerked his hand back as Granny approached the table. He expected a glare, a silent threat to leave her granddaughter alone. Instead, she looked almost amused.

"Two burgers. You kids need anything else?"

Victor figured the safest course of action was to say nothing and avoid eye contact with both women. He could feel Ruby smiling at him.

"Thanks Granny I think we are good." Granny walked back behind the counter. "She isn't going to shoot you with her crossbow you know."

"You don't know that." They ate in silence. Each bite he took slowly. Now he was stalling. He wanted to tell her. To have her understand, to help him. She would try to help him, he knew that. Maybe, just this once he could ignore his doubts, his fears. Ignore the logic his mind was coming up with, the thousand reasons not to tell her. Perhaps, he could listen to what his heart, his instincts, were telling him. Trust her. She won't judge you. She understands you.

Trust her.

"Ruby I..."

The glass windows shattered around them. Victor fell to the floor with the rest of the patrons. He saw Ruby pull a bit of glass out of her arm.

"What was..."

"WHERE IS SHE?"

Gold stepped through the outline of where the door used to be. He walked quickly to Victor and pulled him to his feet.

"Where the hell is Belle? What have you done to her?"

Even if Victor had wanted to respond, Gold's hand around his throat was making speech impossible. Hard to breathe really.

Ruby moved to stop him, but a swift flick of his wrist and she was back on the ground. Chains appeared from nowhere and tied her in place. An arrow flew through the air then stopped only inches from Golds head. Granny was quickly reloading her crossbow.

"I will deal with you in a moment dearie." More chains, Granny was tied in the same manner as her granddaughter. "Now then. Where were we?" Victor's feet were barely scraping the floor. If Gold wanted answers he was going to have to let up on his grip, Victor was only a few moments from passing out.

"You are going to tell me exactly where Belle is or I am going to rip your flesh off piece by piece."

"Let him go." Ruby was struggling against her chains. Had they been non-magical in nature, Victor had no doubts she would have broken free of them by now.

"Not until he tells me where Belle is."

"He doesn't know. He has been with me the entire time since he left your shop. I know you visited her this morning, I saw you leaving as I was coming in. Victor didn't have a shift this morning, he hasn't been anywhere near the hospital. He had nothing to do with Belle disappearing."

Victor would have liked to spend some time considering how it was that Ruby knew his schedule so well, but the lack of oxygen was starting to become a factor. His sight was graying around the edges, creeping in closer. It was becoming difficult to even see Gold in front of him. There was a buzzing in his ears. More words were being spoken, Gold then Ruby, Ruby again, Granny might have even thrown a word in there. He couldn't be sure. His eyes were starting to close.

He hit the floor hard. The impact jarred his teeth and sent spikes of pain up his arm. He coughed and gasped in air. His vision and hearing slowly started to return. Gold's cane lifted his chin upwards.

"If I find out you had anything to do with her disappearance, or if she is hurt in any way, there is no one that will be able to save you." Gold strode out of the diner without a glance back. The glass from the windows flew back to their frames, the chains disappeared from Ruby and Granny's wrists. Every overturned chair righted itself. It appeared as if nothing had happened. Ruby grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet.

"Victor are you alright?"

"I'm...fine..." The wheezing contradicted his statement. Granny handed him a pack of ice wrapped in a towel.

"It will help the swelling go down."

"Thanks..." He held the ice to this throat. The cold felt good. Ruby's hand guided him to a chair. He sat gratefully.

"Don't try to talk, I'm going to see if we have any aspirin in the back." She moved away. Victor was vaguely aware of the other people in the restaurant staring at him. This coupled with the incident from a few days ago was only going to fuel the rumors that were no doubt circling around town.

"All right, shows over people. What? Have you never seen Rumpelstiltskin try to kill somebody? Go on, get out of here." Granny cleared the diner. He watched as they all left. As they all refused to look at him. He wondered how many of them he had treated, how many would spread what had happened here around.

"Vultures. I swear the people in this town never learn their lessons. Don't worry about them Doc."

Victor had no response to that. People didn't learn their lessons because the old ways were familiar. Sure they might have failed you once or twice before, but at least it was what you knew. Who you knew you were. Granny was still looking at him. He forced a smile to his face.

"Well if...they return with...pitchforks and torches...at least...I have you...to defend me." It was getting easier to breathe. Easier to talk. Easier to remember who he was. What he had to do.

"I found some aspirin in the back. How is he doing?"

"Oh he will be just fine I'm sure." Granny walked away. Ruby knelt down to look him in the eyes.

"You ok?"

"I think we will...have to cut this...chat of ours short." He looked her in the eyes, he smiled the slight smile he knew she would expect to see. Even Glinda had fallen for that false smile of his.

Ruby smiled back.

"Tragically this isn't the worst way a date has ever ended for me." She took his hand and helped him stand.

"This was a date? I wish you would have...told me. I would have...bought you flowers." It was easier than he thought. Convincing her he was alright. That she could trust him.

"Well next time I expect flowers and no magic trying to kill us."

"Those terms sound agreeable. What did you say to Gold to convince him to let me go?"

"I told him the truth. That you had nothing to do with Belle going missing. That you would never hurt an innocent girl." She started to walk him out of the diner. Her arm looped through his. She was so sure. So certain of his character. It cemented the decision in his mind. He couldn't tell her. It would be easier this way. If she just hated him like everyone else would come to.

"Ruby...I'm all right, really. I can walk myself home."

"Victor it's no big deal I can..."

"Please. Allow me to keep a little of my dignity intact. It's getting late, I will see you tomorrow."

"Ok. We can continue our chat then. Call me sooner if you need anything." She kissed him on the cheek. A brief moment, no more than an instant. Victor kept his eyes on the ground. If she looked into his eyes now, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep up the lie. "Good night Victor."

"Good night Ruby."

He walked out of the door. His throat ached and throbbed with every step he took. It was the burning on his cheek that distracted him the most. He resisted every urge to touch where she had kissed him, to turn around, to run back to her. It was foolish. She was concerned for his well being, nothing more. He quickened his pace. He was back at his apartment in record time.

He unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and found the bottle of scotch he hid under his sink. The liquid burned down his abused throat. The alcohol cleared his mind. He had come to a decision in that diner. The power Gold had now was too much, if allowed any more power...He couldn't let that happen. The man was blind to the dangers, obsessed with finding a way to fix Belle. Victor could understand. He had been that man once. He had let his obsession destroy Glinda. He wouldn't let it destroy anyone else.

There was only one way that Victor could stop Gold. Victor heard footsteps coming down his hall, moving through the shadows.

"How long have you been here Captain?"

"Not too long my dear Doctor. I told you telling him was a bad idea." Hook pointed to Victor's throat.

"My apologies for not listening to you Captain. Did you do everything I asked?"

"I did. That hospital of yours is actually quite pathetic. I've broken into abandoned castles with better security. There wasn't a single trip wire or hidden trap anywhere!" Hook grabbed the bottle of scotch and took a large swig. "I prefer rum but I suppose any alcohol will do if the moment requires it."

"You got everything on the list I gave you?"

"Your lack of faith in my abilities is quite hurtful. I'm a pirate, not incompetent. Yes, yes everything you asked is now set up in that nice little abandoned building."

Victor had everything he needed. Soon this would all be over, one way or another. He took another drink. No turning back now.

"And the girl? Did she give you any trouble?"

"Not a peep. I injected her with that syringe you gave me and she slept the entire way. I suppose it's a good thing, I doubt she would have come willingly with the man who shot her in the first place."

"Right. Good work Captain."

"You know, you say it like that and it makes me think your heart isn't quite in this Doctor."

His heart. Victor snorted into his glass. There were times he wished he had listened to his heart instead of his mind. How differently his life might have gone if he hadn't let Glinda convince him that she could handle the power. She might still be with him. He had never listened to his heart before. It was too late to start now.

"It is necessary."

"You still haven't explained to me how this is going to destroy Rumpelstiltskin. My trust only goes so far Doctor."

Victor finished off another drink.

"Don't worry Captain. We will all get what we deserve soon enough."

 

Chapter 6

Her screams stopped abruptly. The silence that followed was somehow more unnerving. The silence seemed so unnatural. Later, Victor would realize that there had been no echo in the cave. Her screams hadn't resounded through the cavern the way the laws of science dictated they should have. He never really understood what that had meant, but it seemed important. She stood still, her arm still outstretched. Her head turned slightly upward, her fingers flexed. It looked like she was testing them, making sure they all still worked. Victor thought for a moment that he saw her smile. But the light in the cave was making strange shadows on her face and he couldn't be sure.

Suddenly her body went rigid. Every muscle tensing at the same time, Victor moved quickly. He grabbed her as her knees buckled, lowering her to the ground gently. He had almost pulled his hands away, her skin felt like it was on fire. Her fingers where she had touched the stone appeared to have almost been singed black. No. Not black. But that was impossible. No burn could turn human skin green. He would have time to examine that later. At least he hoped he would. Glinda's eyes were open but unfocused. Vacant. Victor shook her.

"Glinda. Glinda, can you hear me?" He checked her pupils, they seemed to still react to the light. Then he noticed her irises. There was something different about the color. Her once pure blue eyes now seemed to be flecked with…

Glinda gasped in a breath. Her eyes wildly scanned the room. They focused on Victor. For a moment it was as if she didn't recognize him. There was a look in her eyes he had never seen before. He couldn't even place the emotion he saw there, it was such a foreign look on her. He had the sudden irrational thought that she was going to attack him. He held his breath, not knowing what to expect. She blinked several times.

"Victor?"

Victor felt foolish. She probably had a concussion, the power of the stone had knocked her out. Of course she would wake up from an incident like that feeling confused and scared. She was merely reacting to her situation with the basic fight or flight response.

"It's alright Glinda. It's me." She grasped his hand tightly. Surely it was the adrenaline that was making her grip so strong. "How are you feeling? What was that stone doing to you?"

"I…It was so strange. I could feel everything. Every rock and blade of grass. Every gust of wind. I could see and feel everything in the realm. I…." She tried to stand. Victor put a hand to her chest.

"Maybe you should stay down, at least until we are sure of the after effects of contact with an object of such…"

"No. We have to go now. I know how to fix the land, fix the people. We have to go now, I can feel it all slipping away."

"Glinda you could be hurt internally."

"The stone wouldn't hurt me Victor."

"You were screaming Glinda." This seemed to stop her momentum for a moment.

"I don't remember that. I don't remember any pain. I just remember how it all felt. Oh Victor I can't describe it, but you have to trust me. I have to work quickly before all this power and knowledge leaves me. We don't have time to waste."

Glinda pushed herself to her feet. Victor's protests about her health were completely ignored. She moved quickly, Victor struggled to keep pace. Her actions seemed frenzied. The power of the stone must be temporary, or must depend on contact with the stone. Before he realized it, they were back at the entrance to the cave. Glinda walked to the first statue, a young man fallen to his knees. Victor watched her place her hands on him, watched as a strange light seemed to surround them. Victor saw the man's hands start to change, the gray stone almost melting away to be replaced by pink flesh. For a moment, Victor truly believed that everything might be alright. Perhaps this power would be able to save the realm, that maybe the prophecy had been correct.

But then, he noticed Glinda's nose was starting to bleed. Her face was pulled back in a grimace, pain showed in every twitch of her facial muscles. The gray started to creep back up the young man's arms. Victor moved to Glinda's side.

"You have to stop."

"No. I can do this. I know how, it's just….I…." The light faded, she dropped her hands. Victor wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Her breathing was heavy, labored. He doubted she would be able to do any more magic for the rest of the day, maybe even the next. He gently guided her to a soft patch of grass. He sat her down and began to do a more thorough examination. Her hands were shaking.

"It was all so clear in the cave, near the stone. I could see exactly what I had to do. I knew I had the power to do it, to change everything. But the minute I got up here, everything seemed to just float away. We have to go back down there, maybe if I touch the stone again the power will last longer."

"Glinda, you need to rest. Perhaps the stone isn't the answer. We can…"

"We can what? Run away? Just leave my people to suffer and die? Is that what you would have me do Victor? You think I don't know what you think of magic?"

"Glinda I…" Victor had never seen her so angry. He had never seen her angry at all, come to think about it.

"I know what is best for my people, and I won't let some non-believer from a foreign land come and let everything rot because he is too much of a coward to…" She put her hands to her mouth. The anger seemed to leave her instantly. Tears filled her eyes. She refused to look him in the eye.

"Oh Victor, I'm….I'm so sory, I don't know what…"

"It's alright. Really. It's hardly the first time someone has yelled at me." He meant it to ease the tension. It only seemed to make her sadder.

"Glinda really, it's nothing. You are just a little…off-kilter from your experience today. I know you didn't mean it." He sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head on his chest. "You just need to rest. We will stay here for the night then head back towards the Emerald City in the morning. Maybe if we find some more information on the stone we can better understand how to utilize its power. You will see." Victor wanted to get Glinda as far away from this mountain and that stone as possible. He still wasn't quite sure what had happened down there but he was regretting ever coming out here. The doubts he had felt in the cave had only intensified. If he had his way, Glinda would never go near that stone again.

"Alright Victor. I suppose I just need to sleep for a little while." They laid down in the grass, Victor's arms still wrapped around Glinda's shoulders. He lay there and listened to her breathing even out. He supposed he should have started a fire, built some sort of shelter. At least keep on the look out for any wild animals. But Glinda was so warm, and he felt so comfortable. And there was this odd thought in the back of his mind, not quite fully formed. More of a feeling really. He would never be this comfortable, this content, again. So he tightened his grip, closed his eyes, and memorized every detail of how it felt to have Glinda's body pressed against his. The scent of her hair. The touch of her skin. It felt like the most important thing in the world to remember.

It was the shivering that woke him up. He had fallen asleep so warm, and now he was so very cold. He moved his fingers and they ached. Glinda was gone. He sat up quickly. His eyes scanned the surrounding area. A heavy fog had blanketed the entire valley. He could barely see a few feet in front of him. He shuffled a few feet towards what he hoped was the direction of the cave. Perhaps Glinda had merely sought shelter inside. Maybe she was just trying to find some water or food. There were a thousand explanations for why she had gotten up. A thousand reasons that didn't involve magic stones. Victor held on to this thought as he tripped and stumbled through the fog. He was sure that Glinda would be just a few feet away, embarrassed that she had gotten lost in the fog after simply trying to find a place to use the bathroom.

Then he saw him, and Victor felt any hope he held rush away. The young man from yesterday. He was no longer made of stone. Victor walked towards the prone figure lying in the grass. He couldn't have been more than 20 years old, sandy brown hair. Victor knelt down by the man, although it was more to satisfy his own morbid need than out of any ability to help. His fingers pressed against the man's neck told him what he had known the second he had laid eyes on him. The young man was dead.

The boys eyes were closed. When he had been made of stone it had been fear on the young man's face, now there was a peacefulness. The people inside the stones must have died either prior to being changed or…

Victor touched the ground behind the boy's head. His fingers came back slick and covered in blood. So Glinda had managed to free the boy from his cage, only for something to happen to him afterwards. Perhaps they had not been as alone up here as he had originally thought. Other people could still be making treks to the mountain, seeking whatever it was that all those turned to stone had sought. Victor cursed his foolishness, he should have found a safer place for them to…

"Victor."

Victor almost jumped out of his skin. Glinda had appeared out of the fog like a ghost. The smile on her face was quickly replaced by horror when she saw the young man.

"What happened?" She knelt down, grasping the man's hands in her own. "What happened Victor?"

"I found him like this. Glinda, did you see what happened? Did you go back to the stone?"

"Yes. This morning, I just had to see it again. Try to figure out how to keep the information I learned down there with me once I left the cave. I touched it again and when I came to there was a small sliver of the stone on the ground beside me. I must have broken a piece of it off."

"Must have? You mean you don't remember?"

"It's…It's just a little hazy is all. But I brought the sliver with me and when I tried to free him again, it worked. Oh Victor he was so happy. He told me his name was Jacob, that his family was also trapped up here. He was so grateful. I told him he should rest, that I would come find you and that you were a doctor and could make sure he was all right. I left him here for just a moment. I must have gotten turned around in this blasted fog. I swear I only left him a few minutes ago."

Victor had felt the man's skin. It was too cold for him to only have died a few minutes ago. Perhaps. Perhaps some sort of magic killed the man. Froze him. Maybe the weather in the mountains caused his body temperature to drop dramatically. There could be several reasons why it would appear as if the man had died hours ago.

"Glinda….are you sure it was only a few minutes ago?"

"Of course I'm sure. Oh what does it matter when he died? Who could have done this Victor?"

Victor looked into Glinda's eyes. She was so distraught. For the briefest second, the image of Glinda's eyes in the cavern flashed into his head. The way she had looked at him without any recognition…No. It was ridiculous. Glinda would never hurt anyone. She was too…good. There was no part of her that would ever want to hurt anyone. They needed to find the real killer. But first they had to get somewhere safe.

"Glinda. We should return to the Emerald City. If there is someone up here then we need to come back with soldiers. People who can help us search for whoever did this."

She released Jacob's hand. But it was her hands that Victor couldn't take his eyes away from. Yesterday just the tips of her fingers had displayed the strange discoloration. Now, three of the fingers on her right hand were completely green. Contact with the stone seemed to be physically altering her. He wondered what she had done with that sliver of the stone. She must still have it on her.

"We will find who did this to you my friend. I promise you that." Glinda rose silently, Victor followed suit. He took her hand and suddenly they were back in the Emerald City.

"I will go find the head of the guard. He will know how to arrange a search party to find this vicious criminal." She walked away without looking back. He wanted to call out to her. To ask her about the sliver of the stone, see if he could study it for a while. He needed to understand what it was doing to her. He looked at his hand where Glinda had held it for the briefest moment. It felt like he had grabbed a hot poker. And on his palm there was the smallest mark where her fingers had gripped his hand. Pain radiated from that small green dot.

He thought back to the young man lying dead in the mountains. The blood on the ground. The marks on the man's neck. Almost like scorch marks. Victor closed his eyes and gripped his hand into a fist. No one else would have felt Glinda's skin. No one else would make the connection that Victor's mind had made the instant he had seen the body on the ground. The facts that all added up to one simple truth.

Glinda had killed that boy.

He tried to find another answer. He replayed a hundred scenarios in his head, tried to find any other explanation for what he had seen. The boy had been dead for hours. It wouldn't have taken her very long to return to the stone, less time to free the boy. So what had she done in the time between when she killed him and when she came upon Victor. She hadn't been coming from the direction of the cave. So she had been in the valley.

Victor suddenly found himself very thankful for the fog. He wondered what they would find when they returned to the mountain. How many more people had she freed? Glinda was always so concerned about the safety of her people. If she thought there was a killer up there, she would have insisted on bringing all the stone people back with them. Unless she already knew it was too late.

Victor's thoughts were interrupted by a voice he had almost forgotten about.

"Vic! There you are. I have been looking all over this ridiculous castle for you."

"Jefferson."

"So, how goes the search? Any magical herbs or wish granting mermaids lead you to finding a cure for your brother?"

"No."

"Wow. No offense Victor, but you are looking more somber than usual. Which I honestly didn't think was possible. What happened, someone break your favorite stethoscope?"

"A man was murdered. It is possible that more have been killed."

"That sucks. Hardly our problem though. Do they know who did it?" Victor hesitated only for a moment.

"No."

"Well then you and me should probably be on our way before this psycho strikes again. You ready to leave or do you need more time?"

"There are…some things I need to take care of first."

"Well at least you aren't being cryptic and creepy about it."

"What do you know about magical stones?"

"Not much. Except that they are never naturally occurring."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean a rock is just a rock. Someone or something had to make it a magic rock. Objects don't just decide to become magical on their own. Was it hidden somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Well in my experience, magical objects that are hidden, are usually hidden for a reason. Hold on, so you are looking just for a magical solution to your brother's 'problem' now? What happened to science is the best and all that?"

Victor looked down at his hand. The mark was already beginning to fade. But he could still feel the heat. The pain. The power.

"I think I might have found a power source capable of curing my brother. It may have…dangerous side effects."

"I thought you once said there wasn't anything you wouldn't do to bring him back. You telling me you have finally found a line you wouldn't cross?"

Science was all about going too far. It was all about what you were willing to sacrifice. Those who were willing to make the greatest sacrifice, would reap the greatest reward. Victor glanced briefly at the doorway that Glinda had disappeared through. If he could keep her secret for just a little while longer. Just until he could study that stone. What could be the harm in that. With that kind of power, think of all the lives he could save. He turned and faced Jefferson.

"To a scientist, a line exists solely for the purpose of being crossed."

 

Chapter 7

She was quite a beautiful girl really. Victor remembered the first time he saw Rumpelstiltskin, he had thought the man must have suffered from some sort of skin condition. Victor had almost asked if he had sought Victor out as a patient. The girl's love had to have truly been strong to have fallen for a man that looked like that. Or he had used magic on her. Hook had managed to find an abandoned cannery near the docks. It was remote enough that no one would be able to hear or see anything unusual. Plus he could use the massive generators in the basement to aid in his experiment.

"Aren't you going to wake her up? I find that torture only really works if the person is conscious for the entirety of the ordeal."

"I don't intend to torture her Captain."

"Forgive me Doctor. I see a woman tied to a table with wires attached to her head, hidden away by two men who hate the man she loves, and you can understand how I might get the wrong impression."

"I need to retrieve a few more things. She should sleep a few more hours. Do nothing until I return."

"You know Doctor, I consider myself a patient man. But even I have my limits. I'm only going to do this whole following your orders thing for a little while longer. I might start to get antsy. I might start to think you aren't being completely honest with me. Might start to wonder about what this is all really about."

Victor stared at Belle a little longer. It was a tricky thing, trying to manipulate so many different people. Hook was impulsive, he tended to let his emotions cloud his judgement. He might act before the time was right. If everything went according to plan, then there would be no unnecessary deaths. Hook may be a pirate and a thief but he was also technically one of Victor's patients. And Victor wasn't willing to lose any more patients.

"Did you have much family Captain? Before?"

"My crew is the only family I've ever needed."

"No parents or siblings?"

"Is there a particular reason you are so interested in my life history mate? A suspicious man might think you were gathering information for some nefarious purpose."

"My mother died when I was still a boy. My father was a military man, very strict. He could be…distant. After her death he signed up for several campaigns across the realm. Months would go by before I would see him. Most of the time it was just me and my brother and the dozen or so servants that ran the house. I remember this one time, my father had just returned from some great battle, some honorable conquest, and we were all seated at the dining room table. My brother, Gerhardt, turned to me and asked who the stranger sitting at the head of the table was. I remember my father's face, I expected anger or indignation, but all I saw was this…sadness I couldn't understand. He left on another campaign the next day."

"Gerhardt and my father spent more time together when we were older. I was off at college when my father retired from active military life. One year I came home for a holiday and I felt the difference between the three of us. He was no longer the stranger in the house, Gerhardt and he would laugh and joke with an ease I had never been able to accomplish with either of them. Sometimes I wonder if my father wanted to turn the two of us against each other. I can't imagine what he would hope to accomplish with such a plan. Maybe he was trying to re-establish that he was the patriarch, that Gerhardt was his responsibility, not mine. He might have resented me for being there for Gerhardt after our mother died."

"Maybe he was just an ass."

Victor smiled slightly at Hook's crass interjection. He turned his gaze towards the captain.

"I have considered that possibility as well." Victor turned back to the woman on the table. The smile on his face fading.

"I loved my father just as much as I hated him. After both he and my brother died, all I could think about were those two moments. About the two very opposite, yet similar, moments in my life. How absolutely nothing about a situation could change, it was still just me and my father and my brother sitting at the dinner table. But given the passage of time, and a small amount of distance, suddenly everything is different."

Victor checked the IV line. Then he double checked it.

"I fear I may have missed the point of that story my friend."

Hook's words may have been glib, but his tone lacked that normal mocking edge. Victor was sure he had imagined any sincerity he heard behind Hook's use of the word friend.

"I loved my brother, I would have done anything to bring him back. And that obsession lead me to do things I didn't know I was capable of, things I will never be able to undo. But sometimes I don't wonder if everything I've ever done wasn't because my obsession brought out the worst in me, or if it simply brought out who I truly was. I had become the cold, calculating man my father had always wanted me to be. A man just like him. Do you ever wonder if we ever really have a choice as to how we turn out? Or are we simply the men our father's made us?"

"My father abandoned me as a child. I don't give him much thought at all."

"I see. Forgive my ramblings Captain. I tend to wax philosophical when on the verge of an experiment that redefines the laws of science." He wasn't really sure what he had intended when he started talking about his family. Perhaps he had hoped to find some common ground between himself and the pirate. Thought that similarities between them might buy him a little more good will with the unpredictable man. He honestly didn't know. Hook could care less about Victor's father issues. It was just a memory he couldn't get out of his head for some reason. Why it kept coming back to him now, he couldn't say. Victor checked the IV again and began to head for the door.

"Did you ever wonder about my last name Doctor? No one else from my realm uses a last name and yet I introduce myself with a grand flourish. Captain Killian Jones, at your service."

"I hadn't considered it to be honest, no."

"After my father abandoned me, the ship I was stranded on was attacked by a ruthless pirate. He put most of the crew to the sword, then brought the rest of us before him. He said 'You can either join my crew as slaves, or you can take your chances with the sea."

"That's how you became a pirate?"

"Technically I suppose, but not with him. I ran towards the bow of the ship and jumped into the water. My hands were still tied to my back. Not one of my greatest decisions. I don't remember how long I kicked, days maybe. By some act of providence, another ship pulled me from the water. I was exhausted, dehydrated, near death. When I told the captain what had happened, he laughed and said, 'Boy, you must have been watched over by Davy Jones himself to have survived in the waters so long.' The crew started tacking Jones onto the end of my name and it just seemed to stick. Plus I found that people tended to give pause when I introduced myself as such. As a captain, I was more feared. There were rumors that I had actually been born of the sea, fished out of my mythical father's grasp. That anyone who brought harm to me would face the wrath of Davy Jones."

"It seems to me Doctor, that if you want to be more than what your father made you, all you would have to do is change your name. My father made me an orphan, destined to beg for scraps for the rest of my life. I made myself a captain, a man to be feared and respected."

If Victor didn't know any better, he would think they were having a moment.

"Not trying to talk me out of all this are you?"

"How could I possibly do that, when I don't even know what this plan of yours entails?"

Perhaps there was more to Hook than Victor had anticipated. That was going to make the betrayal that Hook would feel all the more difficult. If Victor survived this, he was surely making an enemy of the pirate. What was one more enemy? Still the thought gave Victor pause, if it was this difficult to consider Hook an enemy, how hard would it be with David or Emma. With people he had shared more than a few conversations with. People who trusted him.

He could hardly return the girl now. Too much depended on his plan going smoothly. Now was not the time for weakness. He had to ignore any doubts swirling in his mind. He had to focus on the mission. He had to follow through, be the one to make the hard choices. His father would be so proud.

"I will be back soon."

"I wait with bated breath."

Victor paid little attention as he headed back to the hospital. There were a few more drugs he needed to acquire before he would have everything he needed. It would be imperative that he started the procedure right away. There was no telling how long he would have. He had put certain measures in place that would hopefully block Gold's ability to locate Belle using magic. It was foolish to think that Gold wouldn't be able to eventually find a way around those measures. Victor had no intention of underestimating that man's magic, or his desperation to find Belle. His inattentiveness to the world around him almost caused him to run into Ruby.

"Victor!"

"Ruby, forgive me. I didn't see you there."

"Yea, I called your name a few times, you looked a little spaced out."

"I'm sorry, I have a tendency to get lost in my own mind."

"If I had as big a brain as yours, I'm sure I would be getting lost all the time in there too. You wanna head to Granny's, get something to eat?"

"I..." Now would be the time. To start planting in her mind the doubt that would be necessary. He should make a hurried excuse. Say something offensive or overtly suggestive, it shouldn't be too hard. He had never had difficulty scaring women away before. Logically he knew he would need everyone in town to hate him. Including her.

Especially her. She would be his greatest obstacle. She was always standing up for him, defending him. She knew about his doubts, his past. And yet she didn't judge him, she merely offered up her own horrors. Told him of her scars to show him that he did not suffer his pain alone. He should bring up her boyfriend, make some cavalier and unfeeling comment. She would slap him on the spot and storm away. No. It would have to be more than that. She would be too forgiving, too understanding. She would say she understood his need to push people away. How alike the two of them were .

She wouldn't be so easily swayed like the others. Rumors of his past, innuendos of what he had done would not be enough. She would defend him until he confessed. Until it was obvious to everyone that he had captured Belle, that he had allied himself with their enemy to seek a way to stop Rumpelstiltskin. She would have no choice then. She would see that the two of them were completely different. She lived with a monster inside of her, one that she had learned to accept and control. An outside force. Victor had no such excuse, the monster inside of him was of his own creation. His monster lived in every fiber and cell of his being.

"I have to head back to the hospital. Perhaps another time." He was only delaying the inevitable, this would be a fruitless gesture in the end.

"Victor. Are you sure you're all right? Gold didn't give you a concussion or anything did he?"

"No, I'm fine. I just need to get back to work."

"I'll walk you."

"I don't need an escort."

"I know...I just, want to walk with you." She slipped her hand into his. Let go, his mind was screaming. Let go of her hand. This will only make it more difficult on the both of you.

"Ruby I..."

"You know, I don't miss the overt flirting of the cursed Dr. Whale, but this Victorian gentleman thing you've got going on is kind of a drag. I promise we don't need an escort to hold hands while walking down the street."

"I don't know what you mean."

Very much against his will, his legs moved in step beside her. His fingers still clasped hers.

"Oh come on, if I had given half the signs to Whale that I have been giving to you, we would have already done way more than hold hands."

"Way more?" Victor smirked at her. "I suppose you will just have to enlighten me as to what way more would entail."

"You've got that big genius brain, I'm sure you can figure it out."

"True, but as you've said I was raised in a very repressed society. There are might be things I have never heard about or considered. I would very much like it if you would educate me on the details of such things."

"Maybe after work, you can stop by the diner and we can discuss those...things."

"I don't think what I have in mind should be discussed anywhere near ear shot of Granny and her cross bow."

"Well we will have to find somewhere a little more private after dinner then."

Victor stopped outside of the hospital doors. He looked down at their hands. It had to be now, he supposed. That always seemed to his luck. He always met the perfect woman right on the eve of some great disaster. Still. At least, if nothing else, he would have this one moment. This few minutes where the possibility of the two of them together was more than just a thought in his mind. Where, had things gone differently, they could have started something real together. When all this was over, and he was either dead or locked away, at least he had this moment.

"I should really go inside."

"Ok, go. Save lives. Stop by Granny's later. We can have our first official date."

"Ruby. Maybe it isn't..."

"There you go, getting lost in your head again. Stop thinking, just say, yes Ruby I would love to stop by Granny's later."

"There is nothing I would love more than to stop by Granny's later and have a date with you." Victor got the sense that that was the last honest thing he would ever say to her.

"Perfect. See you later Victor."

"Later Ruby."

Victor didn't remember how long he was at the hospital. He might have even treated a patient or two. He remembered putting the drugs into his pockets. Of writing down a few thoughts on the dosage that would be needed, but little else. He felt numb. Mechanical. Sometimes he wondered if Gold or Regina hadn't ripped out his heart years ago and that was why he did the things he did. Surely a person with a heart wouldn't be able to do this to the people he cared about.

Somehow he found himself back in the room with Hook and Belle. He didn't remember if he had walked there or drove. He must have walked, his keys weren't in his pockets. He idly wondered where his keys were. Did he leave them in his office, or were they sitting on his kitchen counter?

"Back so soon Doctor? Miss my roguish charms that much?"

Victor contemplated his options. He began to mix all of the drugs he would need together, calculating the correct dosage. It was tricky, considering such a procedure had never before been attempted.

"It is a good thing you returned, I do believe our young captive is beginning to rouse."

Victor saw Belle's eyes open. Saw the confusion and uncertainty. The fear.

"What's happening? Where am I?" Belle was beginning to pull on the restraints. She was going to hurt herself if she kept that up.

"It's alright my dear. Do you know who I am?"

"You're the doctor...from the hospital."

"That's correct. Dr. Whale. How is your memory? Have you remembered anything prior to the accident?"

"I...I...What's he doing here? Where am I?" Belle was becoming more agitated. The presence of the man who shot her was doing little to help Victor keep her calm. She needed to be calm for what was coming next.

"Your memory issues have created a bit of a problem. You see there are people who would hurt you, use you for terrible things. I have brought you here to keep you safe. And to treat your...condition."

"I don't understand...please. Please just let me go." She really was an innocent in all this. Still if he had any hopes of stopping Rumpelstiltskin, he was going to need leverage.

"Don't worry darling, the good doctor here is going to take very good care of you."

"Captain, please. You are not helping."

"Please. Please don't hurt me. I just, I just want to leave. I won't tell anyone about this. I swear. Please."

"I'm sorry. I can't do that just yet. And...And I am truly sorry about what I have to do. Captain, I need to you watch the voltage on that machine, make sure it doesn't go into the red."

"Please..."

"I'm sorry. I really and truly am. I wish there was another way, but...I'm afraid there simply isn't, not with the limited amount of time we have. I'm not going to lie to you...there is going to be some pain. But I am certain you will be able to endure it."

"You don't have to do this! I..."

Victor injected her IV with the cocktail of drugs he had mixed together. Her words began to slur, her eyelids dropped. It almost appeared as though she were sleeping peacefully again. He brushed the hair out of her face, then checked the tightness of her restraints. He walked towards the machine he had rigged together. He should have spent more time on it, but it would have to do. He had spent months creating the machines in his laboratory at home. Days antagonizing over the correct placement of certain screws and cogs. He might have used duct tape at one point on the machine in front of him now. How the mighty have fallen. Still, it would have to work. There were no other alternatives, this had to be done now.

"May the greater good not make monsters of us all." Victor whispered as he flipped the power to the machine. It hummed a tune he was far too familiar with.

"What was that Doctor?"

"Nothing. Just something an old fool once told me. Keep an eye on that, make sure it doesn't get too high." Victor closed his eyes and pressed the button that would activate the electrodes attached to Belle's head.

Her screams echoed in the abandoned building, they rushed through the open space. Victor could feel the reverberations in his bones.

 

Chapter 8

The Captain of the Guard was one of the most regal looking men Victor had ever seen. In another place or time, Victor would have had no trouble imagining that man sitting upon a throne. There was a fierceness to him, a hardness borne out of having lived through wars and battles. But there was something else too, a weariness in his eyes. A look that suggested he knew he should have died in battle years ago. That in his wildest dreams he never envisioned a future that lasted quite this long. He was as far as Victor could tell, the closest thing Glinda had to a father figure. Hell, maybe he was her father. For all of Victor's stories about his family, Glinda had never once spoken about hers. Victor assumed they were all dead. Perhaps he should ask this, Captain Leon, about them later. For now the Captain and Glinda appeared to be in some sort of argument. One that did not decrease in volume as Victor approached.

"The mountains are several weeks ride from here. By the time our forces arrived, whomever was responsible will be long gone."

"So we do nothing? We let a murderer go free because you don't want to deal with the inconvenience of a hard ride? I can use my magic to transport us all there."

"Glinda, you have never moved more than four people at a time and even that was a great toll on…"

"I'm stronger now. You don't understand the power I have, what I can…"

"And where did this new power come from? Him?" Victor felt awkward at being so suddenly included in the conversation. Luckily, the attention just as quickly shifted away from him.

"Victor has nothing to do with this."

"Then where?" There was a pause. A silence as the two stared each other down. Victor got the impression that the was something being left unsaid. A truth that neither was willing to share.

"I have done what I needed to do. For all of us. The greater good…"

"May the greater good not make monsters of us all. Do you remember that? Do you not remember what he warned you about. Glinda, I know Gerard…

"He was the one who told me about the prophesy, the one who gave the whole kingdom hope. His warnings came much later, you know he went a little senile in the months before his death."

"Please, just for a moment consider…"

"No. I won't let the murderer go free. If you won't help me, I will find him myself."

She disappeared before Victor could even consider the words he would need to convince her to stay. To wait for a moment. After he had parted ways with Jefferson, Victor had thought about what was happening to Glinda. He couldn't figure out why he hadn't told her, told anyone about the darkness spreading through her. The green spot on his hand had long since faded and with it, the thoughts about using her power had drifted away as well. He knew what obsession felt like, knew how strong its pull could be. What he had felt in those few moments that Glinda's power had touched him had been something completely different. Something stronger, something infinitely more sinister. He had given no thought to helping the woman he cared deeply for, he had only thought about how to use her power. He wished he could blame all those thoughts on the mysterious green power, but he knew better. He knew the power simply augmented, exemplified, ones own thoughts. Ones own demons.

If such a power was capable of turning someone as good as Glinda into a murderer, Victor shuddered to think about what someone like him would do with it. It had to be stopped. Somehow he would have to remove the power from Glinda and find a way to re-contain it. He had hoped to tell Glinda the truth before she left. He should have tried harder. Maybe there was still a part of him that wanted to study the power, that wanted to see what it was really capable of. Victor noticed the Captain was still staring at the spot Glinda had disappeared from. Victor was giving serious consideration to simply backing out of the hall before the man remembered he was there. He was debating the quickest exit when Leon finally turned his gaze towards Victor.

"So you're him then? The one from the prophesy?" Leon practically spat out the last word.

"I take it you don't believe in such things?" Leon snorted.

"Do you?"

"No."

"Gerard. That was the prophets name. He just showed up one day, started telling the King and Queen about how their kingdom was headed for a collapse. Crops would fail, people would suffer, standard end of the world poppycock. I told the King to send the man away, that prophets were nothing but harbingers of doom. Glinda was little more than a child then. She took a liking to the man, begged her father to let him stay. Any man with a brain could tell that there was something wrong with our soil, that disease was sure to follow. We were all fooling ourselves into thinking that our time wasn't coming to a close. But Glinda insisted, she said that with Gerards help we could find a way to stop it. That we could rebuild all we had lost. Ten years he lived in Emerald City. Ten years he told Glinda about the horrors to come. Never once did knowing what was going to happen help us. He could tell us that he saw dead bodies lining the streets, but didn't know what caused it. How did that help us? He didn't know if the death was caused by war or disease or an earthquake. We were no better prepared than we ever were. But with every prediction, Glinda's belief in him became stronger and stronger. They had a bond. She idolized him, she started to study magic because she wanted to impress him. He told her she would be the strongest witch who ever lived one day."

"His predictions always came true, but they also never changed. He never saw Oz returning to glory. All he ever saw was death. Then one day, right after the King and Queen had died, Glinda goes to him. Crying. Sobbing about how there was no hope for the kingdom now. That it was pointless to believe we could change our fate once the very ground turned against you. Suddenly he has another vision, one he never mentioned before. Suddenly, there would be a savior who would cure the sick. Who would help rebuild the Emerald City, restore all of Oz. Glinda smiled for the first time since her parents death…"

The Captain trailed off. Lost in a memory too sad to put into words. Victor was able to determine what the Captain was implying.

"You're saying this…Gerard, lied?"

"We put so much stock in what they say. They are right time and time again, so they have to be right about everything. I think he saw you coming, I think he knew you would be able to help with this latest sickness. I think he cared about her, he wanted her to be happy. So he lied. He told her there was hope for Oz, that somehow you could fix a world that had reached its natural end. He tried to warn her later. Told her to be wary of power, of the obsessions she was harboring. She wouldn't listen. Once that girl puts her mind to something, there's no turning back."

"I'm beginning to see that. If you know your world is doomed, why do you not leave? Take your people to another realm, start over?"

"This is our home. Given the choice, most will choose to stay here, to wait to the very end. We all harbor this tiny hope in our hearts that someone will save us. That at the last minute, somehow against all odds, the clouds will part and a hero will appear out of nowhere. They will restore order, fix everything that is broken. But we both know that isn't how it works. Don't we, Doctor?"

"There is no murderer in those hills."

"I know."

"You noticed the green pigmentation then."

"Right before he died, Gerard told me a final prophesy. He said it was actually the first one he ever had, about a green witch who would destroy all of Oz. It was a recurring one as well, he couldn't get this woman out of his mind. He knew he had to find a way to stop her. He had told the King when he first arrived, so the King had sent out soldiers to search the entire realm. There was never any sign of her. It was five or six years after he came to the Emerald City that he finally realized that Glinda had begun to resemble the woman in his vision. She was a child when he first met her, he had no idea that she would grow up to be the witch. He said he knew what she would do, the people she would kill, the lives she would destroy. Every day for years, he thought about killing her. Stopping her before she became this destroyer. I asked him why he didn't do it. And he said he cared too much about her, that he couldn't hurt her no matter what she would do. And then, then he said the thing that makes believe that all prophets are just as lost and confused about the future as we are. He said, 'What if I'm wrong?'"

"Prophets can be wrong?"

"He was a coward. He knew what was going to happen, but left the dirty work to me. He knew I would have to be the one to deal with her. Me, and you."

"I see. What if…"

"The power can't be removed from her. It's bonded with her, it's in her skin. You can't rip something like that away."

Victor knew that. He had known that for some time. He just hadn't wanted to know it. Anything that fundamentally changed your DNA was going to be impossible to remove.

"She doesn't know what it's doing to her. She doesn't remember killing that man."

"Good. It means that there is still a good part to her, separate from the bad. The good Glinda will want to help us, to stop the bad witch inside of her. We will have to use that."

"How? Did the prophet tell you how to stop her?"

"He built something. A cage of sorts. Said you would be the one to know how to get it to work, how to get Glinda into it."

"I don't want to do this." Leon no longer looked like a king. His entire body seemed to hunch over on itself. As though his body suddenly realized that he was an old man, and every ache and pain made itself known at the same time.

"I know son. Neither do I. But we have no choice."

Victor had a choice. He could grab Jefferson, and jump through a portal and be in another realm before night fall. He could leave all this behind. Glinda would kill people, but at least she would be alive. Free. He couldn't guarantee that this cage wouldn't kill her. Or perhaps it would do exactly what it was supposed to do. It would trap her. Then what? She lived the rest of her life not knowing why the people she loved had done such a thing to her? She didn't deserve this, all she had wanted to do was save the people she cared about. She had wanted to fight the inevitable. To stop the death of the realm she loved. If he accepted that her fight was hopeless, then he would have to accept that perhaps his own fight against nature was as equally futile.

Victor considered his options. He looked at the hall around him. At the rust and the cobwebs, the fading that came with being exposed to the sun for too long. Could he leave all these people to die, just so he could ignore the inevitable passing of time itself? A part of him knew he could, knew the selfish narcissist in him could do such a thing. It wouldn't be the first time he had turned away from those that needed his help. He had no illusions about the purity of his heart.

But there was a small part, an overlooked, ignored part of him that knew he couldn't leave. That Glinda would hate him for leaving, more than for locking her away. He would do this, pretend to be this hero. But he would never be so foolish again. A scientist has to ignore his emotions, has to look at the clinical truth. Only what a person can do matters. Such trifle things as ethics or morals would only hinder progress. He would be this Wizard to the people one last time. Then he would leave all pathetic notions of honor and heroes behind. He should never have stayed here, he had almost forgotten who he was.

"Show me the cage Captain."

 

Chapter 9

"They are going to find her soon."

"I thought those devices you had built kept magic from being able to locate her."

"They do. However, in order for my plan to work, I am going to need to them to find her."

Belle hadn't regained consciousness in several hours. The last treatment had been...difficult on her. He had given her as much pain medication as he had dared.

"So what, finding her broken and tied to a table is how you intend to kill Rumpelstiltskin? We have her as our hostage, giving her up seems..."

"I appreciate your input in this situation Captain, but there are other matters I have to attend to."

"This other matter wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that small device you've been working on?"

"I don't..."

"I'm not an idiot Doctor. You've been fiddling with it for the last few days. Hasn't left your pocket. You're lucky I value our alliance or I would have stolen it and tried to find out what it did for myself."

"I appreciate your self-control then."

"As well you should."

"I would suggest you find somewhere else to be for the time being Captain. I will contact you once the next phase is ready."

"And what about her?"

Victor looked at Belle. Her breathing had normalized, her skin had lost the paleness of an hour ago. He had hoped she would have woken up before he had to leave, he still wasn't sure that the procedure had even worked. But he had already ignored four calls from Emma and three from Ruby. He had to go now before they came looking for him. It wouldn't do for them to find him here now. That would ruin everything.

"She's tied down. Leave her."

"All right. Well I will take my leave then Doctor. Oh, and if Rumpelstiltskin doesn't kill you horrifically, we will meet up later. Have a few drinks, yea?" The Captain slapped Victor on the shoulder. The man's smile was almost genuine.

"Of course Captain." It was far more likely that Victor would either be dead, be chased out of town, or in a jail cell somewhere but there was always the slimmest of chances he could be sharing a drink with the pirate in the future.

Victor left the abandoned factory and headed back into town. He parked his car outside of Granny's. He looked at the envelope on the seat beside him. The letter he had written in case things went...badly. No matter how good your plan, it didn't hurt to have a back up. He put the letter in his jacket pocket. He wondered if he had time to grab something to eat before...

"Where have you been? We've been trying to call you for the past hour." Emma was upon him before he had even closed the car door.

"Sorry, I must have forgotten my cell phone somewhere."

"Gold's trying it again. We need you there in case he brings...Glinda through again."

"You said you would try to stop him."

"Hey, don't get angry at us ok. Have you ever tried to stop a pissed of all powerful wizard?"

Victor followed Emma towards the town hall. Why did Gold need this to occur there? Was there some significance to the building? Perhaps the location in Storybrooke corresponded to the location of Glinda's cage in Oz. No matter. The town hall was where he needed to be.

"How far along is he?"

"Not very, Regina somehow sensed what he was up to. A disturbance in the force or whatever and she brought it to our attention."

"How...helpful of her."

"Yea, I'm thinking she likes the idea of Gold being even more powerful less than we do. Look, I don't want to be harsh about this...but if Gold succeeds. Can you stop her like you did last time, or are we going to have to look for...alternative methods?"

"It won't come to that."

"Look, I get that but if..."

"How many times have Gold and Regina threatened this town and the people in it?"

"I don't know, a couple dozen between the two of them probably."

"And why is it you have never asked me to find...alternative ways to deal with them?"

"It's not..."

"It couldn't possibly have something to do with the fact that Glinda is an enemy that has no history with you or your family, or isn't related to a member of your family, and therefore you would have no problems with killing?"

"Whoa, hold on. I didn't say anything about killing her."

"No. But it's what you were asking me wasn't it? What I would be willing to do? And why not, considering who I am, it's no great leap to think I wouldn't be willing to kill her without a second thought, right?"

"Ok, what the hell has gotten into you? No one is killing anybody ok? All right? I just meant like a way to knock her out or something, you know like a drug. Whale..."

"Victor! My name is Dr. Victor Frankenstein." Victor walked quicker, evil mad scientists had to make enemies of the town saviors. Had to be a little unstable, or else none of this was going to work. He hadn't considered that Gold would try again so soon. He had thought he would have at least a few more days. A little more time to plant the idea in their heads that he was up to his old mad scientist tricks. A little more time for the procedure to take effect. Hopefully Hook would remember what he had said. Hopefully he would stick to the plan.

Regina had some sort of shield around Gold, David and Mary Margaret appeared to be trying to talk him down. Ruby.

You knew it would come to this. That they would all hate you. This was always a part of the plan.

"Victor. Hey we've been looking all over for you. I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Perhaps that is because I did not want to be found."

"Victor what's..."

"I don't need you following me around like some damn babysitter."

"I don't..."

"Careful Ruby, the doctor's in a bit of a mood." Victor brushed past the two women and headed straight for Gold. David put a hand to Victor's chest.

"Whale. Hold up a second. We need..."

"Ah, hello Doctor. Tell me dearie do you think you will be able to talk your sweetheart out of killing everyone this time."

"Why are you doing this? You saw what she was capable of last time. You know that she is stronger than you. That you can't possible hope..."

"I am the Dark One. There is no one stronger than me. I was simply unprepared last time. This time..."

"This time she will kill you quicker. She won't give Glinda the chance to take over. Seeing me again was a fluke, she will not give that chance again. She will just kill us. Whatever you think you are going to do, will not work."

"We will see about that dearie."

Emma stepped up beside her father.

"Gold, listen to him alright? This is not what Belle would want, she..."

"Belle is missing, and for some reason my magic and your bloodhound's nose were unable to locate her. I need more magic to find her. To bring her back. This is the only way."

"You just have to give us more time."

"I don't have to do anything dearie. In fact, Regina doesn't have enough power to hold me here for every much longer. You're starting to sweat my dear, I tried to teach you to pace yourself when it came to high energy spells, but you never listened."

"He's right I can't hold him forever. We need to find another way."

"Good luck with that."

Victor stood in front of Gold. The blue force shield between them was beginning to grow lighter.

"Let him go."

"What? Are you insane?"

"Whale?"

"Victor what is going on with you, we can't let him go. He will just imprison us and open the door to Glinda's cage again."

"He's not going to do anything of the sort."

Gold began to chuckle.

"And you're going to stop me are you doctor? Finally figure out that way to kill me? You must really be a genius to have figured it out so quickly."

"You are going to stop whatever magic you are doing, destroy whatever spell or talisman or ritual that is giving you the ability to reach into her cage. And you are never going to attempt something like this again."

"Or what dearie?"

"Or Hook will kill Belle." The blue shield disappeared between them. Victor wasn't sure if Regina had simply lost the strength to keep it up or if she had merely wanted to see what Gold was going to do to Victor.

Victor didn't turn. Didn't break eye contact with Gold.

"You wouldn't..."

"Everyone keeps making these strange assumptions about me. These ideas that because I am seen in the same company as the good guys, that I must be one of them. I am as far from one of the heroes as you can get. I had Hook kidnap Belle out of the hospital. I have kept her drugged and hidden away. I have used all of my technological know how, and yes, my not inconsiderable genius to keep her invisible to you and to them. I have given Hook instructions that should I not return, or should he see magic like what occurred the other day, that he is to kill her. I told him to be quick about it, but you know how vindictive that man can be. I'm not entirely sure he won't drag it out, make it as painful and as agonizing for her as possible."

Gold stepped forward. This was the most tumultuous part of his plan, the part that he was most uncertain about. He was only 51 percent sure that Gold wouldn't simply kill him on the spot. It was a scenario that he had planned for. Everything was already in place. He had slipped the letter into Davids jacket. It would explain what needed to be done.

"You are going to…"

"What Gold? Suffer? I've already done that, in ways you can't even begin to imagine. And do you know what all that suffering as taught me? People like you and I, we don't stop. We find power and we take it. Science…magic…they are different paths to the same purpose. To have power, to mold the universe to our making. Now. Tell me how you are getting into her cage. I would hate for the captain to get restless and do something…rash."

Victor hadn't turned his head. Hadn't looked away from Gold for a second. He wanted to tell himself that it was a sign of power. That he could stare down a man who could turn him into a slug with a simple thought. But that felt false in his mind. He knew that if he turned his head, he would see the others. Would see the looks in their eyes. He could do this. He had to.

"Belle is unharmed?"

Victor considered his answer.

"There will be no permanent damage."

"You son of a…"

Victor felt the arm pull him away. A male arm, David then. He could only imagine the disgust in his eyes. Prince's didn't kidnap young girls, no matter who their boyfriends were. Regina was probably the only one who would even be slightly sympathetic. She understood doing whatever it took to get what you wanted. Although her sympathy for him probably didn't extend very far in the first place. He would be on his own for this.

"Alright Gold, Whale here is going to tell you where Belle is. You are going to stop trying to free Glinda. Everybody walks away." David did have a commanding voice. Victor could understand why the people followed him. Reason wasn't going to work in this situation, still it was a nice effort.

"He's been experimenting on her! You think I'm just going to let him live after that?"

"He hasn't been experimenting on her…"

"Yes I have."

Gold lunged for him. Victor never understood that. The man was one of the most powerful wizards who ever lived, he was capable of ripping a man's flesh off piece by piece without ever touching him. And yet, he still responded with physical violence. Victor wasn't sure how many people he had treated with distinctive cane bruising, but it was a steadily rising number. Strange that Gold always thought to hurt them in that way. Victor was certain that if he had that much power he would find a way to hurt people without getting his hands dirty.

"Enough. Both of you. What the hell has gotten into you Whale?" David was trying so hard to maintain order.

"I'm just doing what needs to be done. What none of you simple, pathetic little creatures are willing to do. You want to live happily ever after but you aren't willing to do what it takes to remove the threats. I saw an opportunity with Belle. A way to end this...coward's hold on this town. So I took it. All your magic, all your power, and you still can't protect her." Victor let the venom seep into his voice. Let the anger he held down come out. People had certain expectations about Dr. Frankenstein. Certain things they believed deep down. All he had to do was give them what they wanted. Let them see a man, a man they assumed he truly was. They could come to him for advice, smile to his face, but in the end, they were always going to have that thought in the back of their minds. What if? What if it was true? What if, in his case, the stories had gotten it right? He could just be hiding a monster behind that smile. There could be bodies hidden in his freezer. Of course he was experimenting on Belle. Didn't they always suspect that about him anyway.

"I am going to..."

"No. You're not. Now. I will not ask again. How are you getting to her?"

Davids hand was still clamped around his arm. His grip had tighten over the course of Victor's speech. Gold was seething. The moment Gold had Belle back, there was no doubt in Victor's mind that he would come back here and kill Victor in the most painful way possible. He would have to be quick then. He wouldn't have much time between when they left and when Gold returned. He would have to move quickly if he had any hope of stopping it in time.

Gold flicked his wrist. A small puff of black and purple smoke appeared on the table nearby. Victor felt his breath quicken. His heart almost beating through this chest.

"That's it? A dinner plate?" Emma walked towards the silver platter that had appeared.

"I wouldn't touch it if I were you dearie. It's extremely powerful magic."

"How did you get that?"

"That wasn't part of the deal, I show you the platter. You take me to Belle. I don't give freebies, and you are already trying my patience. So there's the plate. Where's Belle?"

Victor had thought it would be something else. He didn't know why he hadn't considered the platter. It was so very obvious now that he thought about it. He had trusted Leon when he had explained it all to him. Now Victor found himself wishing he could go back to Oz just for the simple pleasure of punching the old man in the face.

"There is no possible way you could have used magic to bring her through with that. It..."

"Now now Doctor, your...limitations, leave you very small-minded indeed. You don't understand the type of power I am capable of. But rest assured, you soon will. Where. Is. Belle?"

"The platter stays with me."

"Done."

"She's at the abandoned canning factory. I have several devices in place that will block your magic. It's possible that Hook could have moved her since I left. I would suggest you go now if you wish to find her."

Gold put his cane to Victor's throat.

"Once I have her, I'll be back for you."

Gold left the room, his pace very quick for a man that needed a cane to walk. David let go of Victor's arm. They were all staring at him. Victor continued to ignore their looks, he picked up the silver platter off the table. Emma started towards him.

"Whale..."

"I would suggest that you go with him. In his current state it is fairly likely that he will kill the captain straight away."

"You kidnapped and tortured an innocent girl. You expect us to just leave you here?"

"I expect you to do what heroes do in these situations. Save the innocent. I do hope that Hook doesn't simply kill the girl when he sees Rumpelstiltskin coming. The man was looking particularly vengeful when I left him there with her. And I may have given him some weapons that would help level the playing field."

"You're..."

"...a monster, yes. I really don't know why you people expected me to be anything else. Although it has made getting away with some of my other...experiments quite useful. Honestly, you people think that ogres and witches are the only bad things out there. You think that monsters have claws and fangs and hide in the shadows? Where I'm from the monsters always walk in the daylight, they sit at your table, they live in your homes, they seep into your mind and never leave. You honestly believed that you would be able to tell when you were looking one in the eyes. You don't know what monsters are, little girl."

Mary Margaret stepped forward.

"Emma come on, we have to help Belle before Hook and Rumpelstiltskin destroy the town."

Emma gave Victor one last look before she turned and left with her mother. Regina was giving him the strangest look. But she turned and left without saying a word. She was probably headed home, her part in this had been played. He doubted she would risk anything else to help.

David and Ruby were staring at him. Ruby seemed at a loss.

"Victor, what ever this is. Whatever you're doing, it's not you. I know..." David stepped between them.

"Ruby, we need you to help us find her. We can deal with him later."

Victor put as much disdain into his look as he could.

"Yes, be a good dog and do as your master bids you."

David turned quickly and grabbed Victor by the shirt. Victor was surprised the man hadn't simply punched him in the face. Perhaps David was learning how to better control his anger.

"You listen to me. I don't know if everything you've said is true. That you really are this psychotic and have been fooling us the entire time. Or if you are being controlled by some sort of magic. But we can't take that chance right now." David shoved Victor down into a nearby chair and handcuffed him to it. "When we get back here with Belle, we are going to sort all of this out. Until then, don't move. Ok?"

Victor hadn't planned for that. David believing that there might be some other force controlling him was, odd. Why didn't he just assume that Victor was evil? Victor shook the errant thought aside. Touching though it may be, it didn't change anything. As long as they left now, Victor would still have time.

"Where would I go, oh great and mighty prince?"

Ruby put her hand on his face. Victor wanted to soften his gaze, wanted to tell her everything. But it was too late. He kept his eyes disdainful, his voice mocking.

"Shouldn't you be on your way? I would think you would want to help poor Belle. You do have such a thing for trying to save those you believe are lost. It was so easy to take advantage of."

"We will help you through this Victor." Her kiss on his forehead almost broke him. A kiss had almost been his undoing before, had almost undone all his planning. He had been strong enough then, he would have to be strong enough now. It was fortunate that they walked away so quickly. Victor had turned his eyes to the floor as soon as her lips had touched his skin. He didn't raise them until he was sure he had regained his composure. He heard them close the door to the hall. Heard David lock the large doors behind him. Victor sat alone in the hall, staring at the seal on the wall in front of him.

He unlocked the handcuffs with little effort. He would forever be grateful to Jefferson for showing him how to do that. It had come in handy more times than he cared to think on. He removed the small device from his pocket. It looked like a cell phone. To be fair, he had made it from one. The technology of this world lent it's self very well to being modified for supernatural purposes. He turned on the device. Nothing happened. His eyes circled the room.

"I know you're here." He looked in every corner. Under every chair. The small machine in his hand would show him where Theodora's residual energy was hiding. He knew her, she would have left as much behind as she could. There. Towards the front of the room. The screen showed what looked like a small collection of gnats flying around. Victor turned on the second program he had created. It began to emit a high pitched whine. The small dark spots began to move quickly, more violently. Victor picked up the platter. He had to get them all back through before...

The dots stopped moving. Victor watched as they began to shake in place. No. They shouldn't be doing that. They could only...

Victor wanted to slap himself. He had miscalculated the amount of her energy that had been left behind. He could hear it now, the faint buzzing. The sound that his mind had ignored as white noise. He turned his eyes upwards. They were everywhere. The rafters of the town hall were filled. Victor could only watch as the small specks of darkness started to coalesce. The gnats became flies, then birds, and then, finally the shadows formed into something much larger. There was no animal that he had ever seen that Victor could use as reference. The darkness had merged into several forms. They sat on the rafters like grotesque gargoyles. They watched him from their hollowed out eyes. The device in his hand would not be large enough to stop them all. He was an idiot to think that she wouldn't have done something like this. He had underestimated her, underestimated how much of her power she was willing to part with.

His mind raced through every scenario. He tried to think of a way to stop them, to force them back through the platter and back into the cage. He looked at every possible angle.

He had nothing.

Victor saw them move. There were at least six of them up there. Their forms were no longer transparent. Their skin black like oil. It shimmered as they moved, their too long limbs causing them to hunch their backs in their air. They glided above him, moving between the rafters as if on wheels. Any moment now, they would attack him. They were playing with him now. He had seen it before. They gave their prey the thought that they could escape. Let them believe they could survive. He had seen what the darkness did to those they took. Victor was surrounded. There was no chance of survival. They seemed to recognize that the time for playing was over. They moved to attack.

"Well. Shit."

Chapter 10

Glinda didn't return that night. Or the next. Two weeks passed without Victor seeing her. In fact, no one in the realm seemed to be able to find her. But there were rumors. Whispers of an evil witch. Her skin completely green. Villages would send out messages that they believed she was nearby. By the time the palace troops arrived the entire village would be wiped out. Burned to the ground. The troops were little more than grave diggers. It was getting to the point that whenever the troops left to check on a village asking for help, they would take shovels instead of rifles. Leon sent his troops out to surrounding areas, they scoured the land. He even sent out his personal guard to aid in the search. The most highly trained and skilled fighters and trackers in the realm, and they might as well have been trained monkeys for all the good they were doing. The people spoke of the witch, the way people in his realm used to speak of the devil. An unstoppable evil.

Victor hadn't seen any of the destruction for himself. He had not left the Emerald City since the terror had begun. He knew of the stories the soldiers told, of the fire that was consuming everything in its path. Victor had spent most of his time in the library. Looking for an answer, for more information on the gem. And of coures, he had been studying the cage the prophet had left behind. Like everything else in Oz, it must have been truly impressive at one point. Victor had expected metal, chains, something resembling a medieval torture chamber. All the cages created to contain monsters in his realm had been fashioned to cause the creature pain. To torment them as they struggled in vain against their fate. This was nothing like that. It was…almost comfortable.

It was a large cement cube. There were no windows, considering the cage was located in the depths of the palace there would be little use for them. At first, Victor had thought it was glass that surrounded the outer structure, but when he grazed it with his fingers, it was cold. Ice. Somehow, magic he assumed, the entire cage was surrounded in a layer of ice so cold that it burned his finger tips. There was a door of sorts, and inside it looked like a small apartment. A single light hung from the ceiling, the walls were white, but they almost appeared to be fading to a light gray color. Victor realized it was the ice from the outer wall, leaching its way in. There was a bed, a chair, and a strange metallic platter on a side table.

"Once the door closes it can never be opened. The platter is a way of sending her food. There is an identical one on this side, it will transport the food to that one."

"Isn't that a hazard? Couldn't she use her magic to force her way through that connection?"

"No. It is specifically designed for that single job. Any magic on her side will cause it to stop working. She even attempts to use magic on it, she will starve to death.

It was an ingenious method of food delivery. Glinda would never have contact with any of the soldiers that would deliver the food. Victor tried not to think too much on the fact that he was committing her to solitary confinement for the rest of her life. The cage itself was in the deepest part of Emerald City. An old treasure room, accessible only by a single hallway, so narrow as only to allow one person to squeeze through at a time. Several metal gates were located along the passage as well. Ten feet of solid stone protected the cage room from the rest of the city. Whomever had originally built the abandoned treasure room exhibited clear signs of paranoia. Not that it did any good, as the room was empty of any gold or jewels now. Empty. Except for the cage.

Victor looked around, it was a prison cell. No matter how much care Gerard had put into trying to make it as comfortable as possible, it was still a prison cell. Victor wondered if killing Glinda wouldn't be kinder than this.

"What exactly is it you need me to do here Captain? It looks like every detail has already been thought of. I thought you needed me to help you make it work?"

"I do. As of now, the cage is…idle. It is designed to work on and against only one person's magic. What I need from you Doctor…I need you to not only get Glinda into the cage, but to have her use some of this new magic she has acquired."

"What? I thought you needed me to figure out the mechanisms. You never said I would have to be the one to physically put her in there."

"For some reason she trusts you, you…"

Victor stopped listening. He didn't know why he was yelling at the Captain. He had known the minute he had seen the cage there was nothing he could do to make it work. It was mostly magic in nature, and the prophet had thought of everything. There was really only one way he could contribute to stopping whatever this creature was that had taken control of Glinda. He was only vaguely aware of the Captains monotonous words. He assumed that the Captain must have asked him a question at one point because now he was just staring at Victor.

"I understand." Victor said that out of habit. It had often been the reply he had given his father when he was supposed to be paying attention. Leon seemed satisfied by that. Victor left the abandoned treasure room and retreated to his quarters. Victor had never been much of a drinking man, but he found himself wishing he had access to large quantities of it. From now on, he decided, he would always have a bottle of it hidden somewhere. Alcohol might be the only thing that could help him slow down his mind. Make him able to look at the situation more clearly.

There had to be a way to separate Glinda from the power. Perhaps some kind of injection that would block the receptors in the brain that were linked to magical use. Of course he would first have to find a way to study said receptors within a live specimen. He doubted this realm would have the necessary equipment for such work, he could build it of course but...

"Victor."

He tried not to be startled. It was hardly the first time Glinda had appeared from nowhere. But this time seemed different somehow. Perhaps it was his own fears. He still wasn't sure what he was going to say to her. Was she even aware of the things she was doing? There had to be another way. Maybe some combination of her magic and his science could find a way to rid her of whatever beast had taken ahold of her.

"Glinda. I've been worried about you."

"How sweet of you." It was her walk. No, her smile. It was everything. Every movement, every inflection in her voice. They were...wrong somehow.

"Glinda, are you...?"

"Oh Victor I'm fine. I just wanted to see you."

She was so close. Her hands grazed the lapels of his jacket. She looked into his eyes...

"You're not Glinda."

"Clever boy. Clever, clever boy." Still she didn't move, her hands moved to his face. He had the strangest idea that she was going to claw his eyes out. He backed away.

"Who are you? I demand you release her."

"Release her? From what? From her own skin? You don't get it do you? Here, I'll let the little doll explain it to you. That will be so much more fun."

Victor could see the shift in her eyes. The moment whoever or whatever what controlling Glinda let her go.

"Victor? What's...how did I get back to the castle. Oh god, Victor what have I done?"

"Glinda it's not you, some creature has taken control of your body and..."

"No. Oh Victor." There were tears in her eyes. "There is no creature."

"Glinda, I don't..." Glinda wrapped her arms around him. Victor had little experience in comforting women. He had always made the nurses deal with the more hysterical ones when he had worked in the hospital. He always managed to say the wrong thing. He hoped his silence was comforting, for he knew of nothing else he could do. He held her until she stopped crying. Until she could look at him again.

"It's me Victor. She's me."

"That thing is nothing like you."

"I thought, I was strong enough. The power of the gem...it was too much Victor. My mind couldn't handle it. Couldn't handle all the things it showed me. The things I know Victor, the secrets of the universe that I can understand! It...I can't explain it. You can't understand."

"I understand a little about having two sides of yourself Glinda. The one part you wish you could destroy, but need so desperately or else there would be no you. Glinda..."

"No Victor. She's me and I'm her, but she's also separate from me somehow. She the dark primal part of me. The part that all of us have within us, the part we try to push down. She's...she's getting stronger. I can't control her Victor. I...I woke up in a town and everything was ashes...the people...she. Kill me Victor."

"What?" Victor practically pushed her away.

"She's too strong. And...and I know there is no way to separate her from me. The power." She pulled at her skin. "The power is a part of me too. It's the only way to stop her."

Victor turned away. For a moment he was back in that dungeon with his brother. For a moment the same pleading eyes looked at him. Do it. Please do it.

No.

"I can't. I won't."

"Victor I..."

"I won't because there is another way. You're wrong Glinda, there is a way to free you from her. You just have to trust me." He could do it. He could find a way to stop her. He just needed a little more time.

"Of course I...clever boy. Think you're such a clever boy."

"Glinda."

"Theodora. Glinda's a silly little thing. A puff of a cloud floating in the breeze. A cloud cannot stop a hurricane." Theodora moved like a large cat. Stalking from side to side. Her movements swift, and calculated. But there was also a strange jerkiness to them, as though she had too much energy. Her need to pounce was going to quickly outpace any desire to toy with her prey.

"Whatever you want, we..."

"We? We are nothing. You, you, you. Her. That's you and her. We are not you and her. Not so clever then. A silly man for a silly little girl."

"You are a part of her, so..."

"So what? I love you like she does? She and me are We? Would you like to see what We is then?"

Victor felt the familiar tug. He was standing in a field. No. Not a field. It was a lake, frozen over by ice. Theodora was floating above the ice. Smiling down at Victor. Victor looked and could see nothing for miles, then he caught her eye. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at his feet. There, just beneath the frost covered ice, he saw it. A hand. Victor dropped to his knees, he scraped at the ice. A face appeared, frozen in horror. The face twisted in pain, the hands reaching out for someone to pull them from this misery. It was a young woman, her eyes were locked on him, frozen open by the ice. Victor looked up at Theodora, wanting to ask her why, what was the point of this? He looked back at the woman in the ice.

She blinked.

Victor jumped to his feet. He could see hundreds of faces now, frozen in the water. They seemed to be circled all around him. Each begging for rescue. She was keeping them alive.

"These little fish thought they could fight me. Thought they could run. I showed them. I taught them it wasn't polite to run. They thought I would kill them like the others. Thought I would let their ashes fly away like so many fireflies in the wind. They thought death would be the worst of it. They know better now. Death is hardly the worst thing, isn't it Victor?"

There were monsters in his realm that every man feared. Beasts with claws that could rip out your heart, creatures that could snatch away your children if you weren't careful. But those were the monsters every man knew to fear. Those were monsters that killed for a purpose, even if that purpose was simple bloodlust. There was no such purpose here, Theodora spoke as those they were children who had acted up. Even with every thing he had seen in his realm, even with everything he had done, Victor could not remember ever being faced with such cruelty. Such, pointless apathetic cruelty.

Victor could not allow this to continue. He..he had to be the monster here.

"Theodora. Enough. Take me back to the castle."

"You are not in charge. I want to show you more. You should see the ones that burn Victor. Those are my favorite. I like to see how long I can keep them aflame, how long I can keep them alive before the pain drives them mad. They still scream, even when I put the flames out. They howl and they howl and they howl."

"Theodora. Please. We...You and I need to talk."

"Talk? Pretty little whispers of wind? You want me to stop, you want..."

"No. I...I don't want you to stop. You were right. I love Glinda, and well let's just say I have experience in wanting to protect someone that others would deem a monster. I know what that's like Theodora. I know what it's like to have demons in your mind. I could help you."

"Help me? Help me kill and burn? You are..."

"I wanted to be good, for Glinda. But if what she said is true, if you are a part of her, then I want to love this part as well." Victor put his hand to Theodora's face. He steeled his eyes and his heart.

"I have so many ideas, for experiments that you can I can carry out. With your help, we can finally accomplish what Glinda and I never could."

They were back in the castle in a flash. Theodora put her hand on his face. It was almost gentle.

"You would, wouldn't you? I can see it in her mind, the worry. She thought this of you. Thought you would cross the line. But why? You speak but you give no answers. Why?"

"I...I know that someone like me would never get another chance at love. Perhaps all we ever get is that one moment. That one person. Glinda...You are that person. If she could love me, despite of the darkness she knew was inside of me, then I have to love every part of her as well."

He kissed her. It wasn't Glinda. It was Theodora. Every part of her was wrong. He kept his touch gentle, his kisses soft. He was taking a gamble. If Glinda had been right, that Theodora was a part of her, then she had to love him. Glinda had loved him, had trusted him. Theodora would as well.

"You and me. That will be the only We. She doesn't get to play if I don't say so."

"Whatever you wish." She smiled the wrong smile.

"What should we do first Victor? What game should we play? I have so many spare body parts you could..."

"First, there is something. Captain Leon..."

"Coward. The man is a coward. Let her father die. Can we burn him first?"

"Yes, after we take care of a little problem. The Captain has created a weapon he thinks can kill you. He has hidden it in the lower treasure room, we..." They were standing before the cage before Victor could finish his sentence.

"Hidden it away? Hidden it like the coward he is? Get it." It took Victor a moment to realize Theodora wasn't speaking to him. He watched mesmerized as shapes seemed to appear out of the shadows. Small creatures that seemed to detach from the walls themselves. They flew into the cage. Victor had a small moment of panic. What if the creatures set off the magic and the cage closed them inside?

"Theodora, what are those creatures?"

"Darkness. Shape. Fleas on the backs of parasites."

That was a less than helpful answer. One of the creatures landed on Theodora's shoulder. The longer Victor tried to look at it, the less he was sure of what it was. It seemed solid and yet...

"Babies. Infants learning to crawl." She scratched the thing under what Victor assumed was its chin. "When they learn to run, they will be grown. Mommy's little darlings. They will help add to our collection. You say how large you want the pile of human hearts, they will do the rest."

Theodora seemed insanely proud of the creature on her shoulder. Victor sincerely hoped he never saw one of them when they were fully grown.

Victor walked to the entrance of the cage, Theodora a step behind.

"We should look for the weapon."

"They will find it. They won't disappoint their mommy." Victor stepped inside. Hoping she would follow. There was a large chance he was about to get trapped in here with her. He knew the cage prevented her magic from escaping, but he was fairly certain she would still be able to use it on him. He wondered briefly how long he would be able to keep his sanity whilst on fire. He estimated about two minutes and twenty-three seconds. She stepped into the cage behind him, she walked towards the bed on side far side of the room. Her pets were ripping at the mattress.

Victor took a step back towards the door.

"I think I heard something. Theodora, can you sense if someone is coming."

He didn't know what it was, his tone, his eyes, his backward glances to the door. But he saw it, the moment she realized something was wrong. They locked eyes. Victor dove for the entrance. His shoulder slammed into the wall, he slid to the ground. He was unable to move, he could only watch as the ball of fire came rushing towards him. Two minutes and twenty-three seconds suddenly seemed like far too generous an estimation. He closed his eyes. He felt the heat get closer.

Then nothing. The fire hovered at the door to the cage, then quickly dissipated. Victor had only a moment, a brief fraction of a second to look at Theodora...at Glinda...before the door to the cage began to slam closed.

"You LIAR! You heartless LIAR! You..." The door closed. The room was silent.

No. It wasn't silent, there was a slight buzzing in the air, almost like the shadows around him were angry at what he had done. Thankfully, several guards rushed into the room, Leon amongst them. The buzzing died away, fading like music behind a closed door. Victor looked at the newly arrived men. They were covered in blood and scratches.

"She sent some sort of demon upon us. They were everywhere, ripping people to shreds. The people began to lose hope, but then someone said they saw you appear with the witch in tow. That you were controlling her somehow..."

Leon finally noticed the closed door. This time the silence was real. It was complete, it enveloped the room. No man had the courage to break it. Finally, Leon seemed to remember how to speak. His words were little more than whispers, but they shattered the fragile peace, the blissful quiet of the darkened room.

"She's in there."

"Yea."

"How..."

Victor had no words. He was impressed he had been able to respond at all. He stood and walked toward the entrance. He barely noticed as the soldiers parted for him. The way they took a step back. Victor paused for a moment at the door to the treasure room. He didn't turn. He couldn't.

"I wouldn't let down your guard down just yet Captain, there appear to still be several of those demons left among us."

Victor wandered the halls for hours. He passed several wounded, and made no attempts to aid them. But they made to attempts to ask for his aid. When he first arrived, the people would stop him on the street and ask for him to heal a paper cut. Now, they diverted their eyes. They spoke quickly, hushed in corners.

There was probably still fighting going on out there. Victor found an empty room, it was a far tower overlooking the square below. He didn't know how long he stood there, looking out the window. Trying desperately to think of nothing but the movements of the people beneath him. Several days passed, it may have been weeks. Victor rarely left the room he had found. That it was the farthest one could be from the treasure room without leaving the Emerald City was irrelevant. Food somehow found its way into his room, though he never remembered Leon bringing it to him. And Leon was the only person who Victor had spoken to since...

What they often talked about Victor wasn't sure. He didn't know why the man insisted on running things by him. Why he was constantly telling Victor about the movements of the soldiers. About the death tolls. Anyone left alive was now living within the confines of the Emerald City. Most of the land outside, Theodora had destroyed.

Victor heard Leon approaching. These were the not the hesitant steps of a man afraid. Not the slow unsure steps propelled by the whispers of the common people. It wasn't that the people were truly afraid of him. No, fear he was used to. Fear he could understand. He had helped stop a force they had thought unstoppable. Had cured a sickness thought to be a curse from death himself. They should be afraid of him. Instead, their hushed tones and diverted gazes spoke of something Victor could barely comprehend.

Reverence.

They looked at him the way he saw people look upon kings and queens. As though they were unworthy of his presence. Victor would have snorted at the idea, if it had been even remotely funny. He knew he had his moments of megalomania. Moments when he knew he stood on the precipice of greatness...of godliness. When his intelligence and will were able to overcome even death itself, yes. Yes, he could see how his power made him greater than most men. But those were private moments, private thoughts not meant to be translated into real worship. He wouldn't know anything about how to be a god. Unless of course being a god meant doing whatever you wanted, damn the consequences. Which, from his limited contact with religion, seemed to be the general case. Maybe he should call himself a god after all. There were all sorts of stories about evil gods.

"Doctor."

Leon seemed to be intent on calling him Doctor, though Victor could always catch the slight stutter. The briefest of hesitations that seemed to imply that 'wizard' would always be the natural moniker addressed to him.

"Captain Leon. How is the cage holding?"

"Well. It would appear that the prophet did his work correctly. We have detected no...abnormalities."

Victor had also caught the implied, sir. By all accounts, Captain Leon should have taken control of the Emerald City. He was the highest ranking official, well adored by the people. There should have been no set of circumstances, no reason that this man show any sort of deference to a foreigner like him.

"What of...the creatures?"

Victor still wasn't sure what those things had been. He had hoped when...Theodora had been trapped inside the cage, the creatures would have ceased to exist. Surely without the source of the power they could not continue. But they continued to plague the people.

"They are still being spotted throughout the outer villages. They seem to be congregating around the outer mountains. Several guards have reported attempting to destroy the creatures. Every time they slash them with a sword, the beasts would simply split in two. One man said that he slashed at one a hundred times, but that..."

"Only created a hundred more problems. It seems once they pick a shape they try to stay to it, it offers more stability within their molecular structure. The more stability they have, the stronger their power. But they can be reduced back to their components if necessary. It would imply that each of the individual parts is a separate and complete organism but can create a sort of symbiotic relationship for the good of the pack. Breaking them to pieces will only delay the fight. To end it will require something else, a strong acid or perhaps even a sort of frequency that would keep the particles from being able to reform."

"A frequency?"

"It's a...never mind."

"Well, whatever it takes, we will find a way to destroy each of those things. There have been reports that the larger ones have been carrying people off. Who knows what they want those poor souls for."

Victor could guess. They were trying to find a new host. Someone who could hold the power of the red gem within them like Glinda had been able to. Now that those creatures were free, they had no intention of going back to whatever shadows Glinda had created them from. Buried in that mountain, the gem did them no good. Whatever its power, where ever it had come from, the gem needed a host to truly thrive. Victor wondered how much power still lay in that gem, waiting to be unleashed.

The beasts could steal every person left in this cursed land and it would do them no good. They would never find anyone as strong as her. She had been the only one. She had been special.

"The things..."

"We really should come up with a name for them. We can't really go around telling people we are looking for "the things" or "the creatures" all the time." Victor was sure the people would come up with a suitable name for them.

"Whatever you think is best, your...Doctor. There is much work that needs to be done. This...frequency you spoke of, do you think it will be difficult to create?"

"I do not know."

"I see. Do not despair Doctor. No matter how long it takes, I am sure you will find the answer. You have the complete faith of all the people of Oz."

No matter how long it took. No matter how many failures, how many deaths, the people of Oz would always have faith in their mighty wizard. Only the basest of cowards would abandon people who would so desperately need his help to fight the war ahead. Even if the creatures were defeated, even if he tore down that mountain with his bare hands and buried the gem beneath thousands of tons of rock, it wouldn't be enough. The land was still scorched. The people would still watch as their children starved from lack of food. Victor couldn't heal the soil, couldn't change the weather, couldn't stop the earthquakes or hurricanes or meteorites that would one day come and put an end to the land once known as Oz. This world had reached its natural conclusion. It was dying, not from a witches spell or any malicious intent, but from the same indifferent cause that had destroyed countless realms and planets before. Time had finally caught up to Oz, and no spell could undo the millions of years that had come before.

Victor had thought he had lost his purpose when he came to Oz, had forgotten about his need to save his brother. He couldn't even stop the death of one, how could he be expected to stop the death of thousands? Which would be worse; leave and know that all of these people died because he was weary of fighting such a futile battle, or stay and watch them all die knowing that everything he had ever done had been pointless, that there was no stopping death?

"I will leave you to your thoughts Doctor." Had the Captain been expecting an answer? Would he be required to give rousing speeches? To tell the people to hold on to hope, when he knew now as certainly as he knew anything, that there would be no hope for them. For him. For Glinda.

"Captain...would you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"The man I traveled here with. Jefferson. Would you send him here to me? I need to speak with him for a moment."

"I will have him sent right away."

"Thank you."

Victor stared out the window. He watched the people in the courtyard below. They moved with purpose: rebuilding their homes, clearing away debris, burying their dead. Was he truly responsible for this? Did they think themselves safe because he stood in the tower above them?

"You summoned me, oh great and powerful Wizard?"

"Jefferson."

"I got to admit, these are some pretty nice digs you've got here. I've seen few castles in my time but this has to be one of the most impressive. You are set for life here Vic. Those people out there are practically building you a golden statue, you could tell them to do just about anything and they would..."

"We are leaving now."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Oh I heard you, I just assumed I had a little crazy in my ear there for a moment. Victor these people worship you. Why would you ever want to leave?"

"I...have my reasons."

"Look, I get it. That chick or whatever. But Vic, those people out there are talking about you like you're some kind of savior or something. They think that they can't win this war without you."

"They can't."

It wasn't often Victor saw the Hatter speechless.

"They can't. Right. But you still want to leave. I mean I get it, it's a lot of pressure. And I'm hardly the guy to champion any sort of responsibility but..."

"I don't pay you to give me advice. I pay you to take me through your hat. Now, do I have to ask again?"

They stared at each other for a moment. Victor wasn't sure why Jefferson seemed so surprised by Victor's cold tone. It wasn't as if the two of them were friends.

"Damn Victor. I forgot how scary you could be." Jefferson took the hat off of his head and threw it to the ground. Victor felt the wind in the room begin to move.

"So did I."

Victor would often tell himself that he made the right choice. That with or without him, the people of Oz were doomed. He had to return to his original research. If he could find a way to cure death within the individual, then perhaps he could one day unlock how to save an entire realm. Any reasonable individual would have made the same choice. No matter how many times he analyzed the situation, no matter how many variables he considered, it always ended the same way. There was no hope for the land of Oz.

He pushed Oz to the back of his mind. Another failed adventure with Jefferson. A failed experiment, the course of which he kept locked deep within his mind.

But some nights. Some nights when his mind wasn't racing with theorems and equations. When he felt himself slipping off to sleep. When the darkness in his mind was free to roam, if only for a few moments. One voice would grip his heart and deny him any peace. One word would scream in his mind.

Liar.

 

Chapter 11

Technically, he wasn't hiding. Hiding implied an unwillingness to fight. He was more than willing to fight the creatures currently scraping at the locked bathroom door. After he had a plan, of course. Which he was sure was going to come to him at any moment. So this was more of a strategic retreat, until a proper course of action could be decided upon.

A splinter from the door shot to the floor beside him. Ok. So not much time before they knock that down then. He had barely made it to the small bathroom as it was. Even if he did come up with a truly impressive plan, it was going to be difficult to implement it from in here. What little he knew of the creatures suggested they were difficult to kill. He was good, but even he couldn't make a viable weapon out of a plunger and some antibacterial hand soap. If there had been some industrial cleaner, something with bleach in it, that would have been a different story. There were only paper towels, no electric hand dryer he could MacGyver into an explosive device. There wasn't even a smoke detector in here. Well, that just seemed unsafe. He would have to say something about that at the next town meeting.

The door rattled on its hinges. Even if it held, eventually they would leave their current forms and break apart into smaller parts. That would be a last resort for them. It had taken them days to be able to finally join together back into their solid shapes. It had to be something to do with the amount of energy it took to break the bonds formed between the individual elements. Clearly they...

Focus. Now was not the time to analyze the creature that was going to rip him to pieces. He checked his pockets. His keys, his wallet, a pack of gum, his phone, and the device he had built. The sound waves would not be enough to break apart the bonds, the creatures had become too large. There had to be a way to amplify the sound somehow. He should...

The rattling and scratching at the door stopped. He waited for the inevitable final crash, but as the moments ticked by Victor found his dread increasing. Why had they stopped? Clearly Theodora had sent them there to kill him. Had they left? Or were they simply waiting for him to peak his head out? He really had no idea of the intelligence of these creatures. Then he heard it. The main door to the hall opening, the hurried footsteps. It could be anyone. Please let it be anyone but...

"Victor? Victor where are you?"

Ruby. He had to warn her. He knew the moment he opened that door he was dead. He could always hide in here, wait until Gold or Regina returned. Their magic could probably at least corral the creatures. The smart course of action, was to wait.

Victor grabbed the handle and swung the door wide.

"Ruby, look out there are..."

He felt the air knocked out of his lungs, the ground slammed into his chest. He expected to feel claws or the hot breath of a predator claiming its prey on his neck. Instead, he felt a coldness. A pressure that was both real and imagined. It was, he supposed, what a claustrophobic person felt like. The air too thin, but also thick, smothering him. Pressing in on him. There was nowhere to run, no where he could escape, because the ground was so close. It was surrounding him, pushing him down into it. There would be no need to dig a grave, he was being swallowed up by...

Suddenly the pressure was gone and he found, quite to his surprise, that he was simply laying on the ground. He was not in fact, several feet down with no air and nothing but rocks and dirt to keep him company. He was pulled rather forcefully up by a very strong hand, one that seemed to give little regard to his sudden revelation that he had not been buried alive.

And he was back in the bathroom. Except now, Ruby was there.

"Victor look at me. Ok, I need you to focus on me."

Victor realized that Ruby must have slapped him at some point, she had a look of concern and frustration on her face. It seemed to be the facial expression she used most when speaking to him.

"Ruby."

She smiled. He smiled back.

"Welcome back. Ok, skipping over all the whys and hows and what-the-hells for the moment, how do we defeat those things?"

Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out the sub-sonic transmitter device.

"A cell phone?"

"I had very little time and given proper conditions I would have..."

"Sorry, I wasn't criticizing. I promise. So that will kill those things?"

"Ah, well. No. They've grown too large, this was only meant to work on smaller ones, more of a way to force their particle bonds to shatter so they would be easier to force back through the...how did we get back in the bathroom? There were several of those things attacking me."

Victor finally noticed Ruby's appearance. The scratches on her arms and face, the tears in her clothes. And, a fire ax in her hand.

"Are you injured, I..."

"I'm fine, let's just say I improvised a few things. I may have made things slightly worse out there, the damn things wouldn't go down easy."

"You chopped them into several pieces?"

"I may have let my wolf strength out in full force there for a few moments. They just flew up to the rafters and started kinda melting back together or whatever though."

"This is good, they are weakened when they are in smaller forms. I still need to figure out a way to boost the output signal of the..."

"What about the microphone system? The one up by the podiums? Could you use that to do whatever science thing you have to do?"

Yes. He should have thought of that. Should have been one of the first things. He was starting to slip. Too much time spent as Dr. Whale, that's what he blamed it on.

"That would be perfect. Do you think you can...distract them long enough for me to..."

"You take care of the mad science, I'll take care of the ripping things to pieces."

Was she offended by the implication that he was only using her for her wolf strength? Perhaps he had said something...

"Victor, relax. It was a joke." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Let's go kill some monsters, shall we?"

He stood behind her as she opened the door. She was gone in a flash, her reflexes too quick for his eyes to follow. That would be an interesting thing to study, how quickly her body was able to react to outside stimuli. For scientific purposes, of course.

Victor rushed to the podium. He knew that Ruby would be able to hold them off, but he didn't want to put her in any undue danger. It was simple enough to wire the transmitter to the microphone cord. He could hear the swishing of Ruby's ax, it was strange to hear. She was hitting the creatures and yet it sounded as if she was cutting through nothing more than a dense fog. Victor ran to the control board and switched on the speaker system.

The sound was silent to human ears, he wondered briefly if Ruby could hear it. He didn't have to hear it to know it was working. He could see a pulsing wave move through the creatures. Ruby had done an impressive job of cutting them down. There were none larger than a cat still moving around. He watched as the ones in the rafters began to break apart. It was like seeing a statue made of ashes slowly start to blow away in the wind.

"Victor, now what?"

The platter. He had lost track of it.

"The silver platter, its the gateway. The transmitter is just sending out random pulses to break them apart now, but soon the pulses will become focused. This will sort of herd them towards a focal point, we need to..."

"This it?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you. That...was much simpler than I thought."

Victor took the platter and set it below the podium, the pulses should cause the creatures to be forced towards the platter.

"How do we open it?"

"The creatures themselves will open it. They will do anything to escape the noise that is shattering their cohesive structure. Since they are of the same magic as the platter it should...there they go."

Ruby and Victor watched as the now innocuous pieces started to flow into the platter. They seemed like little more than dust now, hardly the sort of thing one hides in a bathroom from. The small portal in the platter was doing its job, Theodora would not be able to come through without someone like Rumpelstiltskin forcing the door open for her.

"Ruby I..."

"Victor! Look out!"

Victor turned his head just in time to see a shadow the size of german shepherd coming straight for his head. Somehow it had managed to hide, to keep its bonds together. Impressive really, it must be a collective of the strongest organisms.

For the second time, Victor found himself forcefully flung to the ground.

He waited for the darkness, the cold. Instead, this time he felt...oddly warm. Victor hazarded opening his eyes. When they had closed he was unsure. An unconscious reaction to the striking certainty that you are about to have your throat ripped out he supposed. He was greeted by the sight of brown hair. It was then he realized that it was Ruby that had pushed him to the floor. He followed her line of sight. The dog shaped creature was starting to break apart the closer it got to the platter. Its teeth still snapping as they were pulled through the portal.

Ruby pushed off of Victor, her eyes scanning the area for any more potential threats. Victor watched as the last of Glinda….Theodora's magic slipped back through the silver platter. Did this mean that she would now starve to death? Would the platter be able to tell that it was magic from this side that caused the breach in her cell? Rumpelstiltskin clearly wasn't sending food through when he had it. Leon would be dead by now, was there anyone back in Oz looking out for...

"Victor, are you alright?"

"I apologize for my rudeness. I was distracted by…"

"Hey it's ok." Ruby she was…

"You're bleeding." Victor moved to put his hands on her head. She had done a fairly impressive flying tackle to save his life, it would appear she did not get out of that unscathed.

"It's fine, just a scratch." Victor still put his hands near the wound.

"You shouldn't have come back, they could have killed you."

"Yea, I kinda figured that there was something horrible you weren't telling us. Why else would you try to drive all of us away like that?"

"Ruby, the power of that magic, it can…I had to make sure..."

"Victor, I get it. Really. You didn't want any of us to get hurt or infected or whatever by something you saw as your responsibility."

Her hands encircled his wrists.

"You were, in your messed up and completely insane way, trying to look out for us."

"I..."

Victor realized his hands were still on her face, he had pulled her closer to inspect the wound. Now, he noticed their closeness. How warm her face felt in his hands.

"Ruby I…"

The door behind them flew open.

"Ruby! Whale! You guys alright?"

"We're over here!" Emma was beside them in a moment. She was clearly stunned by the state of the hall. Most of the chairs and benches were overturned. There were claw marks on the floor and ceiling. Not to mention their appearances. Victor was sure he probably shared Ruby's state of disarray. Not to mention she was still holding that ax.

"What the hell happened? Gold never opened the platter..door whatever, how did it get through?"

"When he opened it the first time, Theodora took the opportunity to send her pets through as well. She was clever, sending them through in their smallest forms so as not to be detected. In Oz the creatures would float around her like..."

"Flying monkeys?"

"I believe that is probably where the imagery came from yes."

"So you knew there were these small bits of magic still flying around and you didn't say anything about it?"

"I wasn't sure at first. But I had my suspicions. So I took steps to create a device that would be able to fight them. They are vicious creatures, but they are also rather focused in their goals. Since Theodora is trapped in her cage, they are constantly looking for someone else to take her place. Someone strong enough to harbor the magic of the red gem. This person has to be pure, but also has to have been somewhat exposed to magic. Those with magic of their own would be able to fight them off. But someone with no ability to fight them off..."

"Belle."

Gold walked into the hall, David only a few steps behind. David came up beside his daughter.

"Snow is still with Belle. She…" David trailed off. Gold was staring at Victor. There was the ever present anger the man seemed to always exude, but there was also confusion.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why give her her memories back? Your plan would have succeeded the same if you hadn't. All you had to do was hide her from me and from that other power. You gain nothing by giving her back her memories. So why do it?"

Victor tried to come up with an explanation that Gold would believe. They hardly had a friendly relationship, and the number of death threats between them over the last few days would contradict any real answer Victor could give. Victor wasn't entirely sure why, fleeting thoughts about the right thing to do were quickly discarded. That just wasn't the type of man he knew himself to be. He should also leave out the part where it was just as likely his procedure could have left Belle with permanent brain damage, as it was to heal her. Victor decided to go with a coping mechanism he had picked up from being Dr. Whale. When honesty with others and with yourself is far too difficult, go with flippancy.

"I'm the Wizard of Oz. Consider it a gift."

Victor could actually hear Emma roll her eyes. He wasn't entirely sure he wasn't going to be the recipient of one of those custom cane bruises. Gold stared a few seconds longer.

"You and I are going to discuss this later."

"That sounds like a truly delightful conversation."

Gold turned and walked away. Victor kept waiting for the fireball to the face, but it never came. Emma was giving him one of her disapproving looks.

"Do you have to antagonize him like that? One day he is going to turn you into a goat."

"If you aren't constantly pissing off all-powerful wizards, then you aren't living your life correctly."

"Right. There was no sign of Hook when we got there, you know where he would go?"

"I told him to leave before you arrived. I didn't think Gold would be willing to hear what he had to say."

"And that was?"

"That Hook never hurt her, that he knew the details of my plan from the beginning."

"You expect me to believe that a man who has wanted revenge for 300 years just up and decided to help his enemy's girlfriend?"

"Yes." Victor hoped that his response didn't sound like a question.

"Fine." Emma's response was clearly one of disbelief but apparently she too was willing to let him get away with a lie. If only just for the moment.

David slapped Victor on the shoulder and then headed for the door, Emma only a few steps behind.

"Huh."

"What?" Ruby was still there. Still standing beside him.

"I expected a lot more yelling and potential jail time."

"For what? You just saved the town. Just tell us you are about to do that next time though, alright?"

"I promise I won't lie about shadow creatures and mysterious power from Oz that have the potential to kill us all."

"I'll take it."

"I...I should probably head home."

"Ok. I'm going to stop by Granny's make sure everything is ok there. I'll stop by your place afterwards."

"You don't have to do that. I intend to fall asleep as soon as I get there."

"Well then I will make sure you are all tucked in. There's still Hook to consider."

"I told you, he is no threat."

Ruby gave him one last disbelieving look and then headed for the door. Victor walked slowly home. His mind should have been racing. Should have been filled with thoughts about Oz, and Glinda, and the shadow creatures. Instead it was...oddly quiet. He couldn't remember a time when his mind was so still. He was past the point of exhaustion, he needed rest. Needed to get his mind back in correct working order. He opened the door to his apartment and kicked his shoes off. He went to the kitchen, a cup of tea would be the perfect thing right now. He filled his kettle and set it on the stove, he found the tea tin and a sturdy mug. He leaned his back against the kitchen counter, his eyes closed. The shrill sound of the kettle snapped him awake.

Victor pulled the kettle off the stove and poured the steaming water over his tea. His hands were only slightly shaking, a feat he found himself ridiculously proud of. The people of this town were proving to be…unpredictable at best. He had honestly only given himself a 32% chance of survival. He let the tea steep in his mug for a few moments, he rubbed his eyes.

"Rough day Doctor? I can understand, I had a bit of a disappointing day as well."

"Hello Captain."

"You lied to me Doctor. You never intended to help me kill Rumpelstiltskin. You helped him. I don't take betrayal very well, ask any of the crewmen I've made walk the plank. You are about to meet them actually."

"I didn't betray you …"

"Really? What would you call helping the man you swore to help me kill? You have a funny way of exacting revenge on a man who wronged you."

Victor sighed. All he wanted to do was drink his tea and then sleep for the next 18 hours.

"When I was…"

"This isn't going to be one of those family stories you go on and on about, until you eventually arrive at the point is it? Because I am really not in the mood. I barely tolerated them when we were allies, I don't intend to listen to them now that we are enemies."

"Enemies seems like a harsh…."

"Is that really what you want your last words to be Doctor? Arguing over semantics?"

Victor figured if Hook was going to stab him, he would have done it already. Victor decided to take a chance that the Captain wouldn't just kill him to make him stop speaking.

"Gerhardt and I used to play hide-n-seek when we were children. At first, he didn't really grasp how the game was played. He was only three or so when we started. No matter how many times I told him the rules, told him the entire point was to not get caught, he always hid in the same place. I would close my eyes, count to twenty, and then I would check under my bed. And there he would be, curled up with his hands over his eyes. I asked him once why he always hid there and he said, because it's the safest. Our home had over twenty rooms, not including the servants' quarters and every single time we played he would curl up under my bed and wait for me to find him. As he got older, he started hiding throughout the house. He was far better at it than I was. He once managed to fit himself between the cabinets and the ceiling in the kitchen. Took me hours to find him. There were several times when I was never able to locate him at all. It would be time for our lessons or supper, I would say the game was over, and then suddenly he would just reappear as if he had been standing beside me the whole time."

"As we got older our time for games became less and less. One day, Gerhardt asks me if I want to play one more time. I was past the age where such frivolity was accepted and he was very soon to be as well. I agreed, I closed my eyes, counted to twenty and proceeded to check the entire house. Only now I had to be more discreet, I would have to take a book from the library if I wanted to check in that room. I couldn't be seen running all over the place. I searched every hiding spot, every impossible place he used to cram himself into. Hours passed and finally I retreated to my room, ready to come up with a better strategy. I almost didn't look under my bed, I thought, surely there is no way is he is under there. He is almost a young man now. But there he was, curled up underneath. I don't know what surprised me more, that he was actually under there, or that it had taken me so long to think to look for him there. He smiled up at me, like he used to do when he knew he had outsmarted me. I asked him 'What on earth possessed you to hide under there?' And he said 'Once you've mastered the complex, no one ever stops to consider the simple solution.'"

"I didn't lie to you Captain. I told you I knew how to kill Rumpelstiltskin and that is the truth. The easiest way to kill Rumpelstiltskin is to bring Mr. Gold out to the forefront. Belle can do that. She is the only one that can kill that monster he carries inside of him."

"You knew that wasn't exactly the type of killing I was going for."

"I know."

"So you did deceive me."

Hook moved closer, the space between them less than an arm's reach. More than enough space for the captain to lunge forward and fill Victor with all sorts of new and painful holes.

"So tell me Doctor, in this grand scheme of yours, this Master Plan. Did you consider the option of living through all of it, just for me to kill you in your kitchen?"

"I did consider that possibility, yes."

"I see. And how exactly did you intend to stop me from slitting your throat and leaving you here for your little wolf to find? What's to stop me from going after her?"

Victor snorted.

"Good luck with that. You would never get close enough. Aside from the obvious, she would rip your throat out with her teeth scenario, you aren't going to kill her or me."

"Oh? And why's that? Because you and I have become such close friends throughout this entire ordeal?"

"I don't think you are this man you have convinced yourself you are." Hook reached forward and grabbed Victor by the throat.

"You think you know me so well, do you? Think you're so smart that you can just predict what people will do?"

Victor thought of Ruby running back to save him. Of standing between him and death. Of David and Emma's quick forgiveness and friendship.

"No. People are…unpredictable at best. I know your obsession Captain, I know that desire to somehow fix the death of someone you love. You push forward, never looking back, always focused on your goal. You never allow yourself to think on anything else. Your entire life is boiled down to that one narrow path you force yourself to walk. But one day my friend, you will slow down, if only for a moment, and you will look back and realize that you have left horrors in your wake. You can kill me if you'd like Captain, but I think you are just as tired of fighting this never-ending battle as I was."

"I'm not really hearing any incentives not to kill you mate."

"I told them you never had any intention of killing Belle or Rumpelstiltskin." The Captain eased his grip on Victor's neck.

"And why did you do that?"

"So that when you do finally decide you want to see what other paths are open to you, they might be more willing to accept you."

"I will never be one of them."

"Neither will I." It didn't mean he wouldn't fight every day to try and be a part of something other than the darkness he was used to. "This second chance, hell it's probably my third or fourth chance, I know I don't deserve it. But I need it."

Killian stared at Victor. Victor knew Hook wouldn't accept his offer, wouldn't be willing to give up on the obsession that had sustained him for so long. Victor hadn't then, he was still trying to overcome it now. Hook wouldn't see him as anything other than an ally that had betrayed him. Perhaps one day he might. Something might happen that would cause the Captain to question his righteous quest. Then he may see Victor as someone who understood, someone who wouldn't judge him for anything he had done.

The Captain was still eyeing Victor, his hook moving slightly at his side. Of course Victor could be totally wrong and the man could kill him on the spot. Gerhardt had always said that his ability to read people was not his strongest character trait.

"I think you might be a little insane mate."

Victor smiled.

"I have been called a mad scientist on occasion."

The Captain gave Victor a half salute and then slinked out the back door. Victor rubbed his throat where Hook had grabbed him. Not very sore, unlikely to even bruise. He turned to finish making his tea, which had steeped for far too long at this point, when he was interrupted once more. This time, by his door flinging itself against the back wall with a loud bang. That was going to be a pain to fix.

"Victor! Are you alright?"

"Quite fine, except for the fact that I no longer have a front door." Ruby looked slightly abashed for a second. Then she began to scan the room.

"I was searching for Hook, and his scent led me here. I thought he might have gone after you for using him to help Rumpelstiltskin."

"The good Captain was here, but he has gone. And there was no threatening of any kind. I told you he was in on the plan from the start."

Ruby's disbelief was palpable. It took all of Victor's will power not to rub his neck again. He must have given away some tell, some sign of discomfort however. Ruby's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Really? You're sticking with that story as the truth then?"

Victor sighed. This was going to be a very complicated relationship, seeing as it appeared that he was never going to be able to lie to her correctly.

"Can't…Can't we just say it's the truth? Just for right now at least?" Ruby's eyes softened. She might not understand Victor's desire to protect the villainous pirate, but she seemed willing to trust him for now.

"Ok. I'll text the others and tell them that you talked to Hook again, and he is trying to do better."

"Thank you Ruby, I know I don't…"

"Shut up Victor. Whatever you think you do or don't deserve, I can tell you right now you're wrong."

She put her right hand on his shoulder, the other she used to pull him closer.

"Whoever you think you were, whatever you did. It doesn't matter. It's not who you are now, it's not the person I know you are trying to be."

"There is no forgiving the things I've done."

"I know. You can only try to do better. To be better. You have to keep moving forward, Victor. Maybe you aren't the good man you think you should be. But I know for a fact you are a better man than you think you are."

Victor was having trouble not turning his eyes away from hers. They were so...earnest. So honest. He was so unworthy of that look. Glinda had looked at him that way, and he had failed her when she need him the most. He wasn't a good man. But there was no way he would ever fail someone who looked at him like that again.

Victor allowed himself the smallest of smiles. Ruby seemed to interpret this to mean that he believed her. Maybe, with her help, one day he actually would.

"Now then, Doctor. Or should I call you Wizard?"

"I would rather you didn't."

They were very close now. He could smell the forest on her hair. The heat from her skin penetrating through his shirt. Victor had so many things he wanted to say. How beautiful she was, how brave and intelligent. How strong. How her strength and faith made him believe in the possibility of happy-ever-afters, even for someone as wicked as him. Every compliment that rushed through his mind, none of them seemed enough. How do you thank someone for giving you back your faith in the future, in the idea of your life moving forward? In the possibility of a family.

There was no way to correctly articulate all that he owed her. All that he idolized and worshiped about her. All that he would try to repay her.

"You broke my door."

Victor was one day going to find the cure for his chronic stupidity when it came to telling the women he loved that he did, in fact, care about them. That could be his new medical obsession. Ruby just smiled.

"You know, I've always thought that the Wizard of Oz was supposed to be about people giving him gifts."

"It's the other way around actually. And technically I never…"

"Tell me Doc, is me fixing your door, really the gift you want? Because I sort of had other ideas."

Victor looked uncertainly into Ruby's eyes, all he saw was that raw honestly she always seemed to have in her eyes. Maybe it was the animal part of her that made her that way. She relied more heavily on her instincts, on her external senses. It made her less prone to lying. Victor relied solely on his mind. Solely on the structures and confines that man creates for himself. There was no reason that two people so widely different should feel such comfort in one another.

Victor brushed a hair out of Ruby's face. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. There was no reason that he should have been given such a chance to start new. But now that it was here, now that he had that chance, he was going to hold on to it. He was going to cling to it. Even if it didn't last. Even if it ended the same way as it did last time. Even when he ended up alone again some day, at least he would have now. He would always know that for even one moment, he was truly content.

The End


End file.
